Dr. Victor Fagbuyi joins NE Manitoulin Health Team
LITTLE CURRENT—Dr. Adeniya “Victor” Fagbuyi has settled into his new practice with the Northeastern Manitoulin Family Health Team having “officially” started in December.
Although he arrived with his wife and three children (two boys and a girl) in October, there was some administrative work that had to be completed in November, he explains. His children are in school, “One in college, one is in Grade 11, and one is in Grade 5.”
Dr. Fagbuyi comes to Manitoulin via Hamilton, where he initially settled after immigrating from Nigeria in 2017. He spent several years in that city, working towards his Canadian certifications. In Nigeria, he was a rural doctor, and that foundation played a major role in his decision to move to Manitoulin.
Dr. Fagbuyi worked in a variety of supportive health roles while studying for his Canadian exams. Luckily, he had a number of friends and relatives already working in the health field in Hamilton.
Being originally from Nigeria, Dr. Fagbuyi had another thing working in his favour. Gaining Canadian accreditation as a doctor is challenging. “It is challenging, yes, especially people from South America where they don’t speak too much English. That let me see a little bit of an advantage that I had because I come from an English-speaking country where it’s not a native language but it’s like it was a British colony. I had colleagues who had challenges with English thing—that was a huge barrier for a lot of people.”
Dr. Fagbuyi practiced rural medicine in Nigeria for 20 years before deciding to come to Canada.
“My background, I’ve had this mixed experience of working in rural Nigeria and urban Nigeria,” he said. “So, I had a pretty good idea of what things are like in both places. Looking at where I am right now, I was looking at what is the best option for me based on my experience.”
His original schooling in medicine was at the University of Ilorin. “It was a new program focussed on community-based health care. It was very new at the time when I was in school, so our school was chosen as a collaborating centre by the World Health Organization for community-based education.”
“We were the first set of people that were having rural postings, so we stayed there for like weeks at a time,” he said. Practicing with few outside resources, “we had to improvise a lot of things because in the rural settings, you don’t have virtually any of the facilities that you have in an urban centre. So even while I was in school, I was having a little bit of what I’m going to be doing right now.”
As to what drew him to Manitoulin, Dr. Fagbuyi, said “I paid a visit to Manitoulin Island as part of the process of continuing program,” he said. “I loved the environment. I had a conversation with a lot of doctors here. I’ve known people outside the medical profession, and I was impressed with what I saw. So that’s that was the attraction. So, the first thing was the rural thing, the next thing was my impression of my first visit.”
As for his decision to go into family medicine, “I wanted to be as broad as possible,” he said, noting that he enjoys interaction with people in general. “I think family medicine is the only place where you have that kind of opportunity, especially rural family where you take on a lot of things. Just like I said, my previous experience in rural Nigeria gave me that drive.”
As to what drew him to Canada, “I believe it’s the good reputation Canada has outside the country, without a doubt.”
“I think for my family, for my children, opportunities might be better for them here in Canada,” he said. “Canada is a good place to raise a family and that was one of the major drives that brought me here to Canada.”
“I had colleagues I had known back in Nigeria who had been in Canada for quite a long time, and I think that was my first settling point, with the colleague who was a physician and who was also from Nigeria. He kind of mentored me all through the past six years. I was doing what you might call an ‘observership’ with him on and off. He was helping me, coaching me through some of my exams. I’ve worked in medical offices as an assistant—a medical office assistant.”
With Dr. Fagbuyi’s family, Manitoulin has scored a medical two-fer, as his wife is a laboratory assistant and was quickly able to secure employment on the Island as well. Being able to find employment for a doctor’s spouse has been often found challenging in recruitment.
Housing, another big challenge, is still proving somewhat challenging. Especially given the desire to be close to the hospital and big enough for his family. He is still looking but has his name in for one of the new apartments being built in Little Current.
As for his impressions of the Island and its people now that he has been here a little while, “They’ve been amazing since I came in—right from the first week. When I came in, somebody gave me this beautiful card. I don’t even know who the person is. People have been always ready to help. That was the first thing that really struck me about the people in on the Island. People are appreciative of what we do for them, and I think that’s a big change from urban settings.”
Dr. Fagbuyi has taken on a number of Dr. Ben Quackenbush’s patient roster and said he is looking forward to practicing here.
