Provost, Benjamin Carson College of Health and Medical Sciences, Babcock University, Professor Adeola Fowotade, has urged medical consultants to look beyond professional titles and positions, stressing the need to build people, strengthen institutions, and create legacies that endure beyond their years of service.
Fowotade gave the charge while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Annual General Meeting and scientific session of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan Branch, with the theme ‘Thriving as a Consultant: Growth, Challenges, and Fulfillment at Every Stage.’
She said a consultant’s career was not a linear progression but a journey through different seasons, requiring doctors to redefine success as their responsibilities and priorities evolve.
According to her, emerging consultants should focus on building competence and credibility, while those in the building stage should develop expertise, teams, and services. Established consultants, she said, should multiply their impact through leadership and mentorship, while senior doctors should focus on succession and legacy.
Fowotade, however, warned against the pressure to constantly achieve more, noting that mid-career consultants were particularly vulnerable to burnout as clinical, academic, administrative, and family responsibilities increased.
She challenged doctors to replace the question, ‘How much can I achieve?’ with ‘What is worth achieving?’ stressing that professional growth must be balanced with personal well-being.
The don urged consultants to deliberately create opportunities for younger colleagues, mentor the next generation, and build systems that would remain functional after their departure.
She said, ‘An institution should become stronger because of your presence, but the institution should not be dependent on you.’
Beyond professional excellence, Fowotade identified personal health, family, financial preparedness, and meaningful relationships as essential components of a fulfilling career, warning that doctors should not sacrifice their lives while caring for others.
On legacy, she said consultants should continually ask what would remain because of their contributions, adding that their greatest achievements should be measured by the people who became better, institutions that became stronger, and lives that were transformed because of their service.
She urged the consultants to ‘thrive and not just survive’, adding that they must protect what matters, prepare successors, and leave the medical profession better than they found it.
The Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, also urged medical and dental consultants to move beyond surviving Nigeria’s healthcare challenges and work towards transforming the system.
Otegbayo said attaining specialist status should not mark the end of professional growth, urging consultants to embrace emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, and continually update their knowledge and skills to improve patient care.
He acknowledged the pressures facing practitioners, including heavy workloads, inadequate resources, infrastructural challenges, economic difficulties, and rising patient expectations.
The CMD called for stronger mentorship and succession planning, saying every generation of consultants had a responsibility to transfer knowledge, values, and professional culture to younger practitioners.
He also called for frank discussions on professional development, research, innovation, and consultants’ welfare, while urging practitioners to uphold professionalism, integrity, compassion, and excellence.
Otegbayo said, ‘The future of healthcare in Nigeria requires consultants who are not merely surviving within a difficult system but who are equipped and empowered to thrive, lead, and transform it.’
The Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Oyo State, Dr Olufemi Aworinde, warned that Nigeria’s healthcare system was increasingly undermining doctors’ ability to thrive, citing severe workforce shortages, rising clinical demands, resource constraints, burnout, and the continued migration of skilled professionals.
Aworinde reaffirmed the association’s commitment to working with MDCAN and other professional bodies to improve doctors’ welfare, strengthen professional development, promote healthier workplaces, and advocate for a health system where excellence can thrive.
Earlier, the Chairman of MDCAN, UCH Ibadan Branch, Dr Oluseyi Akande, described the theme as timely and relevant to the realities of the medical profession.
He expressed optimism that the meeting would provide valuable perspectives on how consultants could continue to grow, flourish, and find fulfillment in their chosen profession despite the challenges confronting Nigeria’s healthcare sector.