CAN YOUNG DOCTORS SUCCEED? Dr. Abdi Mohamed CEO/MD LADNAN HOSPITAL

Senior doctors aren't retiring as early as planned. Generation X are struggling to catch up. They are in Nairobi jostling with the senior doctors to get admission rights and patients. What do the young doctors do?

FACTS Health care has been devolved to the counties. The population of the country have increased. The number of doctors graduating have increased exponentially over the years. Major hospitals in the country are either owned by: 1)Government 2)The Church and NGOs 3)Are registered as non-profit making institutions.

Uptake of health insurance is increasing, thanks to NHIF civil servant & disciplined cover and the new Universal cover. Our disease prevalence and incidence is changing from communicable to non- communicable. There is a vacuum created by the Government and the so called non-profit making hospitals whose cost have pushed the majority of Kenyans to seek tertiary care out of the country.

Solution Young doctors need to have a change of mind set. The old route of being admitted to UON to do medicine, do internship, work for two years, come back for clinical masters and become a consultant, move back to Nairobi after two years in the periphery and depend on the few insurance patients is no longer applicable.

Young doctors need to roll up their sleeve and start investing in the sector not buying matatus or opening bars. There is a glaring opportunity especially in the provision of tertiary care. What do you need to do for you to emancipate and take advantage of the situation? You need to have the following:

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur Passion You must be passionate in what you want to do.

Risk Taking It is easy to take risk when you are young. There is an anonymous quote that sums up. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

Perseverance/Resilience This just means that you don’t get into a venture with a plan B, C and D in place.

Dedication and Time Management This is the biggest weakness we have as doctors. We want to keep our jobs with the Government both National and County and at the same time run our private businesses (Clinics, nursing homes or kiosks) You can’t give your job 30% of your time and expect to get 100% return.

Networking Ability We are generally very competitive lot as doctors. From KCPE, KCSE upto medical school. We forget that there is no academic competition in the real world.

I am sure everyone is saying, I have all those characteristics but I don’t have the fund. So who will fund you to set up your business?

THE THREE Fs Start up funding is done by the following three Fs. Family Friends and Fools

Thank You