Housemanship is the compulsory one-year rotation done by all fresh medical graduate who wishes to get permanent medical license in Nigeria.
Here are Tales from House Officers around Nigeria, The housemasnhip program is an uninterrupted program done under the supervision of unit consultants.
Every doctor rotates through four major departments; For Step-by-Step Guide on Getting a Housemanship placement in 2024 click here
- Internal Medicine
- Surgery
- Pediatrics
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
You are expected to spend a minimum of three months in each department and with a one-week leave, this amounts to thirteen weeks (13 weeks) in total.
Note: The hospitals are not arranged in any particular order. MDCN PAYS N244k Monthly. ( These are for hospitals under the MDCN portal)
Hospital: Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital Gusau
- Accommodation: is good and furnished also
- Orderliness: is good also
- It’s also flexible
- Cost of living is quite affordable, it’s so in the North
- Salary: was 178, 600 after deducting tax and co. And you don’t pay a different accommodation nor ARD fee.
Dr. Maryjane (EX-HO)
Hospital: University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Akwa-ibom state.
UUTH is a small center, the hospital has just one center unlike places like FETHA, OAU, NAUTH etc. that has more than a center. So that’s one peck-you walk a little less! ????
Uyo is also the capital city, affordable too.
Accommodation: fair, reminds you a little of secondary school.
There is “America” and there is” Europe”. Downside: you’ve to share a room, comes with a bed, reading desk, wardrobe ± washing machine, water heater
Upside: You don’t pay for accommodation.
Salary: is same as MDCN (244k)
Flex: Uyo is a beautiful, calm city. Night life is great with vibrant bolt and uber to support your night waka. Beach available, cinema available, resort available, airport available.
Orderliness: Dearest, you’ll give IV drugs!
Administration is fine, they won’t stress you. I didn’t meet any toxic senior colleague. Akwa-ibomites are very hospitable people.
Food: My favorite part!
A lot of seafood, veggies, vegetable smoothies and periwinkles! Brace-up darlings!
Dr. Ifechi (2021 BGS EBSU) (EX-HO UUTH)
Hospital: University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozala, Enugu State.
Accommodation: Poor with some basic amenities lacking bar light. Light is fairly constant. Bushes are poorly managed and accommodation is scarcely enough.
- Orderliness: Well organized but has a lot of bottlenecks. For a freshman, the first few months will be rough, but eventually you’ll slot in fine.
- Limited social activities due to the detachment from the metropolis. Good for those that love a quiet life.
- Depends on your taste. It can fit whatever budget you have.
- Salary is same as MDCN
By Dr Elochukwu, a.k.a. Ortega (HO at UNTH)
Hospital: Amino-Kano University Teaching hospital, Kano state
- Accommodation
60k yearly (5k monthly).2 rooms with 2 toilets and one parlor for 2 doctors, with good electricity and water supply. Initially, the water comes up to our rooms, but now we go downstairs to fetch it.
2 Orderliness: AKTH is organized by Nigerian standard. As a non-indigene, what others may do or say and go unpunished, if you do it, you will be summoned.
- Flex
The workload is much like in every other Nigerian hospital, but it’s not too hard as compared what we hear concerning other centers.
- Affordability:
In my opinion, Kano is the headquarters of northern Nigeria. Things are cheaper in Kano than in southern Nigeria, but you can still find other northern states that are cheaper than Kano. You can save anywhere you are in Nigeria, even though we know it’s not easy anywhere
4. Salary:
Same MDCN salary everyone is taking.
5.Sample: We house officers collect samples and cannulate patients while the nurses give all drugs except some very important drugs like hydrazine (In O and G) and calcium gluconate (In pediatrics).
By DR. Akpa Walter (EX-HO AKTH)
Uniosun Teaching Hospital, Osogbo
Accommodation:
There is accommodation which is on the average a nice place to stay. A room with an inbuilt bathroom and toilet as well as a kitchen. Water runs. However, two people are assigned to a room. You pay #4, 000 monthly
Orderliness: The administration is quite orderly
Flex: This depends on your posting and the number of people in the department at the time
Affordability of the town: The cost of living is fair, not too expensive
Salary: Salary is 162k basic from the state government, while the hospital pays 20k extra as allowance
By Dr Felicia Temmy (Ex-HO)
Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta (FMC ABEOKUTA)
- The accommodation is limited.
The HO Quarters is inside the hospital has 24/7 light but has only about 16 rooms. We pay 5k/month in accommodation
The one outside the hospital (Elite area) has about 16 rooms too. It’s a renovated duplex. Only has light in the night from 10pm-5am, but there is water and rushes inside.
There is another building under construction for House Officers inside the hospital.
There is nothing in the rooms.
You’ll have to buy everything yourself or buy from older colleagues. There are houses around that you can rent. 200-250k for selfcon.
The hospital is orderly.
To be fair. Your postings are exactly as scheduled. The departmental heads do their jobs well.
You resume work by 8am or earlier depending on your postings and the responsibilities you have.
In my time, the ARD lounge was being renovated, so we didn’t enjoy so much of call room space. But the renovation is over now. A sharp and cool ARD lounge in the middle of the hospital.
Most Nurses do their jobs well, especially in Accident and Emergency.
But as with the health care delivery in Nigeria, there are loopholes too.
Doctors serve IV medications here and some other stuff that nurses should ordinarily do…
Also, if you don’t put body, you may not learn much. You’ll just run errands and carry out plan, loan blood etc.
In my time, there was no flex. We had issues with MDCN, so there were just about 30 House Officers and the work choke.
Patient load is kind of much in FMC Abeokuta because we get referrals from a part of Lagos and Ibadan and then other parts of Ogun State.
However, they have sorted the accommodation issue with MDCN and more Doctors are being posted there.
Work will be light depending on the number of HOs on ground.
The environment is not exactly a toxic one if you do your job well and relate well with people.
The town is fairly affordable. Transport, food etc. But to be sincere, there are no good foods in Abeokuta.
To eat well you’ll have to cook yourself, get good oil from your hometown.
There are 4 major markets in Abeokuta. Things are not so cheap as one would imagine, Ogun state being an Industrial hub in Nigeria. Prices of stuff are not cheap and yahoo boys have not made things any easy
By Dr Nmeso (EX-HO FMC ABEOKUTA)
UDUTH
- Fair; a spacious self contains. Most rooms have a reading table, a center table, two sits, a bed, foam, a refrigerator, and a gas cooker. Amazing, right? The room is old. One will have to fix most things in the room before packing in and still pay for accommodation.
The good news, it is one house officer per room.
It is a very big center yet very organized and clean. You could access all the departments without stepping outside the building.
It has a very clean environment I have to emphasize this.
This is North no maximal flexing.
Mami and a few other places will give you an intermediate vibe or else nothing.
Things cost here no caps. Except for sachet of water and a few other things.
Salary is the same as MDCN.
EXTRA: Excessive workload that is killing with few HOs.
Remark: Not recommendable
Dr Edith (EX-HO UDUTH)
University college Hospital Ibadan (UCH)
University college Hospital Ibadan is big???? intimidating structure and the work load is much.
Ibadan is the capital city and affordable.
There’s accommodation for the house officer’s, but it can’t serve everyone, and you pay for it #15,800 per month
Salary: same as MDCN
By Dr Princess Nweke (EX-HO UCH)
Federal Medical center Yenagoa (FMC Yenagoa)
The hospital is located in the heart of the town
Accommodatio:
60k yearly and two persons per room, one room selfcon. There Light and Water, but water fluctuate sometimes. You will be provided with a table, foam and ceiling fan.
Orderliness: FMC Yenagoa is organized by Nigerian standard, Especially the O and G department.
Flex: The workload is much like in every other Nigerian hospital, but it’s not too hard as compared what we hear concerning other centers.
Affordability:Bayelsa is very much affordable, but in the raining season places can get flooded. And lead to hike in prices of things ranging from transport to food.
Salary: Same MDCN salary everyone is taking.
Sample Collection: We house officers collect samples and cannulate patients and still give all IV drugs
By Dr Edeh (EX-HO FMCY)
The above was carefully compiled by Dr Edeh, you can donate to encourage more of this info
