MY DIARY ON STRESSES I DO ENCOUNTER AS A MEDICAL STUDENT

It has not been easy being a medical student. Most people love the feeling of being a medical student. It's a thing if joy to gain admission into a tertiary institution in Nigeria it's another bigger joy to be a medical student. You like the feeling of being a medical student right? But have you really asked yourself all the ups and downs related to studying medicine as a course here in Nigeria? I'll be telling you things I've experienced based on my stay and study of medicine as a course in Nigeria and I'll be using the University of Nigeria, UNN (where I study) as a case study.
Firstly, what you'll encounter as a medical student here in UNN are bill😂. You'll have to pay for numerous things, also you'll have to buy numerous things in preparation for resumption as a fresher in UNN. The bills as a student in UNN include school fees, acceptance fee, clearance fee, hostel fee, departmental fee, class dues etc.
Also, after resumption there's something different about medical students. UNN have different campuses for medical students. They include:

• Nsukka campus for year 1 medical students.

• Enugu campus (UNEC) for year 2 and year 3 medical students.

• Old UNTH (old site) for year 4 and year 5 medical students.

• New UNTH for final year students.

Source

STRESSES I'VE ENCOUNTERED AS A MEDICAL STUDENT

To be a medical student here in UNN isn't easy. I'm a year 3 medical student so now my current campus is here in UNEC (University of Nigeria, Enugu campus). The stresses I've encountered are:

1. Stress of running around for lectures:

Here in UNEC, the lecture halls are quite not comfortable and conducive for students here. In my department, our numbers are way more than the capacity of the lecture hall. Therefore, this causes overpopulation of the class and an one can't really focus or pay attention in an overpopulated class.

2. Stress of most practicals (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry):

The issues of practicals is another big problem. It's always annoying when you come to a practical class and it's being overpopulated. Asides being overpopulated, there's the issue of inadequacy of practical equipments. Sometimes, we provide or contribute to get some things we need for practicals ourselves. I could recall a time when we were told to get distilled water and milk for practical ourselves.

3. Harshness of the weather:

Another thing you'll encounter as a medical student is the harshness of the weather. Imagine being overpopulated in a class during a sunny day. Imagine the hotness and heat that comes with it. That's another issue.

4. Random decisions of having fixed classes:

As a medical student always expect to have fixed classes at any time and at any day. That's one thing that's inevitable here as a medical student in UNEC. Imagine laying out plans during weekends after planning how your day would be and then only for you to just go to the class group and see something like "There'll be a fixed class today". This thing is very annoying and it scatters plans for one.

5. SAPA😂 (severe absence of purchasing ability):

This is otherwise known as brokeness + hunger. This is a major problem encountered in school. Things here in UNEC are over expensive. Imagine buying a keg of water at the rate of #100. This is very absurd and exhausts ones money.

6. UNHEALTHY COMPETITION AMONG COLLEAGUES

This is another problem here as a medical student I've encountered. Imagine your colleague (same level, same department) trying to bring up unhealthy rivalry whether academically or otherwise. This is another issue to be encountered and it is almost inevitable. It's prone to happen.

7. HIGH COST OF READING MATERIALS AND TEXTBOOKS

Medical textboks here are very costly. When being compared to other places or schools based on the prices for the same textbooks you find out that textbooks here are way more in price here than in other places.
I think these are the seven (7) major things one will encounter. Although there are other problems but these 5 are the top problems to be encountered.
Do you still have the zeal of being a medical student? Do you still aspire to be a medical student? If yes, then man up for you'll encounter at least one of these problems in school if not all.

special thanks to @campusconnect @whitestallion @alphafx @brightobias @emmanuelmalume