How do you cope with professional colleagues?

You are the star that always shines every Tuesday. I look out for Daily Trust to read your insightful articles, as well as your questions and answers (Q and A). Your column is the reason why Daily Trust appeals to me. Do you experience criticism from your medical colleagues regarding what you write? How do […]

You are the star that always shines every Tuesday. I look out for Daily Trust to read your insightful articles, as well as your questions and answers (Q and A). Your column is the reason why Daily Trust appeals to me. Do you experience criticism from your medical colleagues regarding what you write? How do you cope with that?
Dr Eunice Kelechi
@DrKelechi;
Thanks for your words of encouragement and  to your question, the answer is YES. Let me start by saying that not too long ago, a reader which I assumed is a health worker accused me of not citing references in our Q and A. I provided an explation to my editor and it is good to repeat what I said then.
Health Interactive Column is a simple street dialogue between a medical doctor and those who are not medics, health workers or researchers and scientists. It is health education which is a component of a primary health care. It is not an academic or scientific conversation.
In line with the above, writing citation or referencing in this conversation will rather make it not interesting to a lay man and will make the reading dull and boring.Another angle to it is that, illnesses and diseases where ever one reads them from or extracted the information, is the same. If one read 10 documents about Malaria, each one will say the same with respect to symptoms, signs and causes of the disease. The  slight difference may be in the way and manner it is written. These are generic information.
We aren’t targeting doctors or health workers or researchers in our Q and A but lay man to understand these problems better. Anytime I am in the midst of doctors, I always inform them that we aren’t targeting them. For our article corner, the essays aren’t academic as well but public health discourse. But in this regard if an information is quoted from a particular document, I always mention that or put it in inverted commas.
As I suggested to my editor in moving forward, we will still improve regarding our Q and A. If I am defining a particular illness, I will be adding “according to ———“or I will put the source of the information in brackets, the same applies to information regarding treatment, control and prevention.Writing for 13 years has surely moulded me to be more tolerant to criticisms and different views from mine.

Who is Aminu Magashi?
Can you tell your readers who Aminu really is? You are a weekly health columnist for 13 years and now you are a publisher of the 1st online health newspaper in Nigeria ‘Health Reporters’. Do you sleep at all or have social life?
Juliana Abbott

@Juliana.  You make me laugh, yes I sleep well every day, that has being my strength over the years. What I don’t enjoy is holidays and leaves. I work throughout the year. I graduated from University of Maiduguri in 2001 with an MBBS and obtained a Post Graduate Diploma and MSc Public Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2006/7.  I am currently working under 50% staff  time with a project called ‘Evidence for Action in Maternal and Child Health (E4A)’ as its Africa Regional Coordinator. I also coordinate Africa Health Budget Network. I serve as a Board Chair to five not for profit organizations in Nigeria.  I marked my 42nd year birthday anniversary on the 17th October. I have been married for about 14 years now and blessed with two kids (12 and 10 years old). 

Is it true you are rich? 
It is rumoured that you are using your weekly health column and now your online health newspaper to become one of the most influential health voice in Nigeria and Africa to amass wealth?
Muhammad Yau

@Muhammad – If you ever see the house I live in or my bank account, you will surely laugh at this rumour. I don’t even own any plot of land no matter how small it is anywhere in the world. There is no iota of truth to this rumour. There has never being a time in the course of this work that someone or some agency determine what should be published or not, or pay anything for it . Of course some people from time to time share with me useful documents or raise an issue of interest, but the decision to write any topic squarely lies with me and God willing it will remain so.
It is expected that when someone writes a column for 13 years every week ‘come sun come rain’, many people will notice such contribution and may extend invitation to some events or extend friendship. However the primary intention of this work is to advocate for a better quality health care and reduction of preventable deaths and illnesses. So to answer your question, NO, there is no wealth in this work and no intention to amass wealth.