I remember back in 2016 when I was manning a busy mission hospital alone.

One day, I had seen about 60 patients in clinic.

One man came in around 4pm.

After listening to his complaints, I started writing down prescriptions.

I prescribed loperamide for his watery stools.

Guess what happened next?

While I knew I was prescribing loperamide, the dosage I had in my head was that of loritidine.

That was how I prescribed 10mg of loperamide for an elderly man.

Now for context, loperamide is usually prescribed 4mg as a stat dose in cases of severe

diarrhoea, then 2mg for each loose stool after that, not exceeding 8mg in 24hrs.

So I prescribed loperamide 10mg because I was writing loperamide & thinking loritidine.

Why did this happen?

Because I was tired.

A tired Dr is a dangerous Dr.

Thank God for the good pharmacist who noticed this error at the point of dispensation & brought it to my notice.

How would this elderly man have dealt with the constipation that this dosage of loperamide would have caused?

This is the risk that patients in Nigeria have

to bear, with the continued exodus of doctors from the country that creates a shortage, further increasing the already deplorable ratio of 1 doctor to 5000 patients we already have to deal with in this country.

This is the healthcare that Nigerian citizens are left with because

the govt cannot be bothered to create a working and dependable healthcare system for its citizens.

A TIRED DOCTOR IS A DANGEROUS DOCTOR.