this is certainly not good news for our mother continent. but bad news does not calls neither for a stalemate nor a stand-still. it is time to find solutions for this problem.

i have to highlight that there is a tendency in our race of succumbing whenever there is a stumbling block. i believe that when i am on my way to the land of glory and i encounter a mountain on my way, instead of sitting for aeons by the mountain while i am consumed by the regret, i should find a way of either going through the mountain or around it at all costs. i would like to believe that is the way our race dealt with problems before the intellectual genocide which was orchestrated by the Henry Bailey (not sure of last name).

now here is the crisis. i believe that the greatest impediment in this process is our continental tendency of sending students to study outside Africa. when they get there they are wooed with gargantuan salaries. who could say no to good pay and especially when your potential employer says they can repay your government, or whoever your sponsor was, in one day!

the way forward is to build more advanced and sate-of-the-art medical training institutions. for such an idea to prosper we need to more things: partnership with the occidental and oriental moguls of medicine AND the governments plus other world health bodies to put more money into medical training. I AM SURPRISED THAT IN THE CAPACITY THAT CUBA HAS BEEN "A FRIEND TO AFRICA" (NEW AFRICAN: APRIL, 2008).

on the other hand the doctors must be given competitive salaries. there is no way that people undergoing intense and enduring training can receive emolument tantamount to that of somebody who trained half their academic span. it is about time our governments started putting their house in order. they should lessen yes of academy, especially those prior to tertiary education. I WAS SHOCKED TO LEARN THAT IN SOME CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES PRIMARY EDUCATION GOES AS FAR AS STANDARD/GRADE 4! we need to adjust systems for needs/issues at height while we maintain top quality. (i have always thought of primary and secondary education as waste because there is a lot of repetition along the way).

i am happy that my government which has always sent medical students abroad has started signing MoU(s) with them that they ought to return home upon completing their studies. our medical school is also underway and there are new (although controversial) universities propping up in our country. that is an advancement. i also have to express my gratitude to the Man Above that for the first time we now have a new calibre of a president--the Lord bless him-- who takes delight in both intelligent planning and serious planning. he and his henchmen are keen to make things work and the civil service has revolutionized in less than a year. they have pushed the idea of the new medical school and it is being constructed. they have pushed the idea of an international university of science and technology; and all is underway.

ca va!