Dr Michelle DOMLAN is a General Practitioner in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She has over three years experience working in a medical clinic setting in Ouagadougou. Currently, and since January 2018, she has been completing her residency in Cardiology.
What led you to pursue a career in health?
Being a doctor was a childhood dream. I always liked to play the role of doctor whenever I played with my friends. Some years later, when I was 10 years old, my dad had a myocardial infarction on Christmas day. You can only imagine the shock for a child to see her father almost dying on a day meant to be joyful. I felt so helpless being unable to offer him any assistance. That event was the turning point that reinforced my decision to become a doctor, a cardiologist.
What are you most proud of?
A month after my graduation I was employed as a General Practitioner (GP) in a medical clinic in Ouagadougou. This being my first job, I had to work an extra mile to prove myself and gain both my patients’ and my superiors trust.
Six months after beginning that wonderful adventure, I had many patients who trusted my professionalism and with whom I built a strong doctor-patient relation. Whenever they had health issues, they would always request to be referred to me for consultation.
Within a year, I have been promoted to lead physician.
A few years later, the desire to pursue a residency in cardiology was born. However, my position, busy schedule and responsibilities as lead physician at the medical clinic cast doubts to achieve this childhood dream. Nevertheless, I had great determination to achieve this goal. I focused in preparation on my entrance exams without compromising my other responsibilities. A lot of effort and effective time management finally resulted to success, opening a new chapter to attain my dream.
What do you wish you had done differently?
Africa and other developing countries have a crucial need for specialist doctors who can respond to healthcare challenges in the society. Some diseases which are easily managed in developed countries are still a big challenge in our countries. I wish I had started my residency earlier in my career in order to help our community and the population at large. This statement however doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my work experience; on the contrary this period was among the most exciting in my life.
More often than not, the disadvantaged in society don’t have adequate access to proper healthcare. It would have been my wish to have created a non-profit organization together with likeminded colleagues and bring healthcare to people in disadvantaged communities & villages, providing them with the right information about their health and correct orientations in case they need to be referred to a specialist doctor.
In regards to the second point, I believe I will still have the opportunity to make things right in the near future.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced? How did you overcome them? What are some of the lessons learnt?
I was very young when I started my first job as a GP. I resembled a child. I still remember whenever I attended to a patient, the question always was “are you the doctor?” This will often be followed by a scared face which seemed to be saying “are you sure you can handle my issues?” Every consultation was a challenge for me. I always had to reassure the patient and prove that I had the skills needed in order to gain their trust.
Before gaining anyone’s trust, you must be self-confident!! This has been a great achievement on my part. The main objective was to gain patients’ confidence, where they feel they are in good and able hands when interacting with me.
Again, after graduation, doctors always discover the field realities. Each patient is a unique entity, with his or her own specifics and requirements, that one needs to identify and deal with to assure good results with the prescribed treatment. Work and perseverance were the key which helped me to go through those situations. I came out more mature and this helped me with the transformation from the girl I was to the woman I am.
What are some of the opportunities you see for women in health on the African continent?
In my opinion, the same way we are talking about women empowerment nowadays shouldn’t be the manner in which we talk about women’s opportunities. They are just opportunities regardless of being male or female. We all have the same opportunities and only the hard workers will win the competition.
Opening a medical clinic/ hospital bringing together, and in collaboration with, different skillsets and knowledgebase in the different fields of healthcare, where we work, doing medical research is key – the possibilities are limitless since the field is still unexploited.
What advice do you have for other women in health?
Never give-up, keep on fighting for your dreams. In everything that you do look for perfection, try to be the best.
Know your weaknesses and work on them. Be humble and respect everyone around you. Accept your mistakes, correct and/or learn from them, thus making you sharper going forward.
Above all these never forget God wherever you go, whatever you do, put him ahead and ask for his assistance: “Pray as though everything depends on God. Work as though everything depends on you”.
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