Name: Dr. J. Nutai Kolleh
Position: Doctor In Medicine of General Practice
It is often said that dream positive and disbelieve in impossibility, this is the case of a youthful medical Doctor, J. Nutai Kolleh who has risen himself hard above the bar to become an inspiration to many young people of Liberia.
Dr. Kolleh- age, 31, in 2019 graduated from
A.M Dogliotti Collage of Medicine with honor. Not just that, he was pronounced dux and given special recognition for being the best student among those who walked out of the walls of Dogliotti in 2019.
“It was surprising when I was announced as the dux it was great feeling of joy” Dr. Kolleh said.
Before explaining how the youthful medical doctor is performing in his career now, let’s just look back as his days as a child growing up. A child who walked distances to gain his primary education in one of Liberia’s counties, Bong.
Dr. Kolleh, like any other child raised by his parents- an educated father and an uneducated mother who sells her in the market to make ends meet ensuring that she and her family does not lack.
“Growing up as a child, I still remember those days when the English teacher would come in class asking that we write an author biography” he recollected his days in elementary school. (school)
He said; “I can remember it was a common thing for us to write that we wanted to become a medical doctor upon leaving high school.”
“Me and other friends back than felt that medical doctor was the very biggest of all careers” Dr. Kolleh said as he looked on and laughed faintly.
The child back than in high school has grown up after so many years of preparation as a young man.
During his preparatory stages, he attended various high schools and graduated from the World Wild Mission High School situated in Paynesville after which he rerolled at the University of Liberia.
I asked him if all was rosy during his days at the University of Liberia. He looked and this was how he responded: “Things was hard. During our days, we had one bus leaving from Paynesville to UL Fendell campus. I remember doing desktop publishing to enable me get those things I needed when I was in school.”
He has gone through his own ups and downs, his good and bad times- those times which has shaped him to become a better person.
He explained to me that when he graduated in 2019 from the A.M Doglitti Collage of Medicine, he did not hesitate to do his internship. So, on the 27th of January 2020, a process he said required of him to cover four departments in four hospitals in Liberia:
To track the personality for the week, it was not an easy one. Busy with patients, doing his regular rounds, talking with people privately and many more.
“When I get the phone call, I will be on call, he said.
I did not know the terminology of a person on call. My journalistic thoughts were, once you are on call, it means, you are on a phone call. But I missed it big time. In the medical field, on call means, to see patients. After he told me this, I left and laughed at my behavior.
Anyway, let’s leave that because it is not really the issue I want to push here.
Now that the internship of Dr. Kolleh has come to an end, I was inquisitive to know if he was just going to be assigned as a doctor, but he responded by saying, “I was sent to school by the government of Liberia and I must work for the government as part of the agreement. But first, I need to be licensed by The Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC),” he explained.
He indicated that after the process of his licensing, he will have to work for the Liberian government for a period of one year, mainly in the rural parts of the country. This according to him, is intended for more exposure. He does not want to be ungrateful to the Liberian government. So, the best thing is to abide by whatever agreement that was reached. in addition to his experience during his internship ELWA, Du-Side and other places, he still thinks that he has a lot more to do for those waiting.
He is not satisfy with the level of education thus far. He wants to specialize in a particular area in the field of medicine.
When he was asked which area he has earmarked to specialize in, the youthful medical doctor said, “ I want to specialize in surgery” but he said it is still open as to which of surgeries he want to focus.
Anyway, that is a good place. At least he did not go into
Gynecology as one of my friends did.
The personality of the week still thinks that Liberia needs many medical doctors so as to help those already in the field.
The youthful medical Doctor has promised to specialize himself, work to help address medical issues in Liberia.
This is the personality of the week. Read next week to know who the personality will be.
By Mark N. Mengonfia- mmenginfia@gmail.com