Dr. (Mrs) Juliet Ebele Okonkwo (R) with husband, Ezechigozili Tony Okonkwo (L).
Dr. (Mrs) Juliet Ebele Okonkwo.
The immediate cure available to every party involved in a case of anger affliction is quickly saying sorry. Dr. Juliet Ebele Okonkwo, Consultant Radiologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospitals (LUTH), took time off her crowded schedules to offer this non-medical advice critical to social cohesion, peace and progress.
Said she: “In our stress-invaded environment for reasons we all know, anger is on a steep rise with very potential dangers as outcomes. So, the immediate ‘medicine’ available to every party exposed to a situation of anger affliction is the quick remedy of saying sorry.
“We should all learn how to say sorry fast and quick in appropriate manner and circumstances, to reduce the unacceptable index of our rising aggressions and preventable harmful incidents everywhere”.
Dr. Okonkwo spoke while reminiscencing as a mother and grandmother who will be celebrating fifty years this Sunday, stated that as a matter of practical wisdom, when it came to the home and family, every wife desirous of growing peace and respect, must have that word, “sorry”, at the tip of her lips, ready for use without any inhibition whatsoever.
Noted she: “I acquired this simple but rare knowledge from my dearest husband, Chief Tony Okonkwo, with whom I have logged in 31 years of my fifty together as a friend, couple and parents.
“Of course, I know it’s not so easy knowing how inflammatory provocations can become to women, but believe me, if you make that sacrifice early to tune your thoughts to channel “humility” frequently, your harvests will be enormous and worthy of a testimony.
“We know that naturally, most men hardly say sorry easily for reasons fundamental to their delicate ego. Certainly, it does not make it right, but getting it right must be by someone. If you choose to be the one deliberately and sacrificially, they will come round to make it up best for you. But please, note, I’m not suggesting there are no exceptions to this scenario”.
Reflecting on the health-care services status in the country and care availability, she said, as an industry operator, the challenges to citizens and care providers were truly huge and enormous.
Stated Dr. Okonkwo: We are wedded to the same trauma of insufficient health infrastructure, lack of critical expertise in evolving treatment options, and the big elephant itself, poor diagnostic facilities.
“We need to do more deliberately in Medical diagnosis because that is at the heart of the matter for curative therapeutics. I feel personally involved and arrested emotionally and professionally when the subject matter comes to knowing what a patient is down with, because I lost my dear father to reckless misdiagnosis.
“Most Nigerians still suffer a lot as a result of this, and my passion is to one day, do something significant about it. I’m happy in a sense that as a confessed home-made medical professional in the best of LUTH tradition, the resolve to do more for fatherland is unshaken optimism. To me and some of us there, you can be guaranteed there will be no ‘japa’ syndrome”.
