By Adeyinka Adeniran
In a bid to ensure that medical practitioners especially doctors live a good life even after retirement, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Prof. Emmanuel Otolorin has urged medical practitioners to prioritize planning for their retirement early in order not to retire into penury and a purposeless life.
He gave the charge while delivering a lecture at the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Oyo State Branch, annual general meeting/scientific conference, noting that doctors should not be too carried away with their works and forget to plan adequately for retirement.
According to Prof Otolorin, the theme of the lecture, “After the final rounds: Finding fulfillment post retirement”, is such a timely one due to the recent economic downturn of the country which has rendered salaries inadequate and put serious pressure on the income of the medical practitioners.
He urged medical practitioners not to be a last minute kind of planner rather, they should start planning early for life after active service year.
He added that farming, fish farming, real estate, stocks, etc are some of the ways that medical practitioners can invest while they are inactive service which will in turn serve them after they have retired.
He said, “The thrust of this lecture is to tell my colleagues that they should not wait to start planning when it is very late.
“Don’t be a last-minute dot-com kind of planner. You should start very early. And don’t rely on Nigeria’s pension scheme. The money is very small. The salary that doctors get in this country is very small. The pension, therefore, is very small, and you cannot sustain yourself.
“When you are in service you do many other things. You consult here and there. You give lectures or you do some other stuff that keeps you going. Now, you must make sure that you prepare for retirement. You must calculate how much you will need to live a decent life without lowering the quality of your life.
“Once you know that, you will remove pension. Then you have to invest in other means of income. It could be stocks, it could be agriculture, it could be fish farming, it could be anything. But just make sure you have a plan.
“Do not rely on children to take care of you. It doesn’t work that way anymore. The children of these days have their numerous problems, and parents are even helping them to solve some of those problems. So you have to prepare for yourself.
“Real estate, land speculation, these are long-term investments that are proving to be very, very useful, and inheritance. Many of us are beneficiaries of inheritance from our parents. You should do the same for your own children by investing while you still have the energy”, Prof Otolorin said.
He also advised medical practitioners to not neglect their health while attending to other people’s well-being.
He urged them to be humble and conscientious enough to seek medical help from their colleagues and go for routine medical checkup.
“Be conscientious and humble enough to go for routine medical checkups. Just do what you preach.
“We preach to the general public that they should go for routine medical checkups. We should do the same before retirement and after retirement”, he concluded.
Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association, Oyo State Branch, Mr Happy Abiodun, noted that the theme is aimed at sensitizing young medical practitioners on the need for early preparation for retirement.
He said retirement is an issue that sends shiver down the spine of people and doctors are not excluded, thus, the need to enlighten members of the association on the benefits of preparing early for retirement and to some of the things they can invest in while they are still in active service.
The highlights of the event was the presentation of awards to the lecturer, Prof Emmanuel Otolorin and the Chairman of the event and President, Centre for Palliative Care, Nigeria, Prof. Olaitan Soyannwo.
