CLINICAL EXAMS

He is a very good, sharp and smart guy. The night before he had gone through all the cases, read all the folders and had approached all the patients.

“Who is candidate 119?” the Chief Resident asks. You have just 45 minutes to clerk, examine, and present your patient, your time starts now. She assigns him to bed number C7. ” oh that baby” he said. He was being managed for bacterial meningitis.

Clerking starts; “Madam where una from?” he asks, which kind question be that every person dey ask me this kind question you no see the mark for my face, she says pointing to her tribal marks. She finally tells him where she is from, howbeit reluctantly.

He explains to her his whole one year depended on how she cooperates with him, he tells her that his life depends on how she responded to him. He then gets a polythene bag that has in it 2 packets of biscuit and a packet of fruit drink juice and gives it to the child, he then gives the mum #500 to pledge his unalloyed loyalty.

The woman calms down and suddenly becomes semi cooperative, the child as well is glued to him as he eats the biscuit.

Madam wetyn carry you come clinic? he asks; Na sickness na, she replies. He explains to her that sickness is vague, she then cuts him short. Why una sabi ask question well well for this hospital.

15 minutes gone asking questions that lead to no where in particular, 15 minutes gone waiting for answers scarcer than snow in the Sahara desert.

He remembers the case, he had gone through her case note before. In fact he knows everything about the child, despite his biscuit, packet of fruit drink juice which the child is now devouring  and the #500 he gave to her mum, she can hardly break a smile and it is obvious she is not ready to cooperate with him.

He runs to his Chief resident to inform her of his predicament. She angrily scolds him and tells him he is not serious and says “oh is it because you can’t make a common diagnosis, will you get out of here, lazy students”

Desperate times call for desperate measures,  he said to himself, well I know the case. He writes a full clerking and examines the child. The woman agrees to all he wrote down and makes a deal to agree with all he says in front of the examiners. His diagnosis is resolving bacterial meningitis.

He is getting ready for the examiners and hoping everything goes according to plans. Just as a white haired man and another examiner shows up, the child started stooling and the mother in turn started crying.

She says with a loud voice “since we come this hospital this pikin dey shit 6 times every day and in dey shit everything wey enter in belly and na this small doctor give am biscuit and juice wey in just chop”. He felt an earthquake around him.

His examination starts from there; for this baby stooling the consultant asks well let me not pre-empt you he said. Present your full clerking.

The medical student knew of course, that the things chasing him from the village where now present and resident in the hospital.

Okay he presents, the consultant asks are you sure of what you are saying. The mother of the child now replies. Na wetyn in tell me say in wan write.

At this moment the consultant stands up and walks away. The medical student has been condemned for a crime he did not commit, an innocent man declared guilty and has been sentenced to medical detention for three months, three months of hard labour.

In fact, it was now clear to him now, that not all things that flies at night are witches he said to himself, I just met one now.

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