Not Everything Is About Money.

Why we left and why we will continue to leave...

(Retrieved from here. Posted by: MS Mohamad)

I read an interesting article today about a few prominent figures addressing their concern over the increasing UKM and UM medical graduates who have left the country to continue their medical practice overseas.
After reading the news for 3 times, I called a very close friend, an MD (UKM) graduate to ask his opinion on how the news might have affected him. He has been working in Singapore for more than a decade as a Consultant Surgeon with a certain sub-specialty
"Why be a slave in your own country, when you are a king in another?" He replied.
Indeed, if anybody would want to find a reason why all of us left, either after housemanship, after being a specialist, or even after sub specializing, and now, even prior to doing housemanship, they need not look at our payslip, or the wealth that we have gained overseas, but only to the Medical System that has been rotting in the ignorance and politic-based stupidity that Malaysia has been well-known for (in the medical field).
I have served the system for nearly 2 decades of my career, waiting for it to improve for so long, and only finding myself in despair, quitting with a 24-hour notice and serving abroad. The system is, in my opinion, keeping doctors, since the beginning of their career as House Officers to the end of it, in the lowermost priority. When I was working there, doctors are so ill-treated, while the nurses and the medical assistants are overpowering us.
I still remember the days when I was doing seeing patients and rounds as an MO, while the staff nurses would mind their own business, having breakfast in the pantry, or having gossip chats at their own leisure. My House Officers would then have to do merely all the labour-work, up to the extent of setting intravenous drips, and serving medications. If I am to expect the nurses, my patients would have been dead, or the work would have been too slowly or incompletely done.
When I was a House Officer, I had to run down 4-5 floors just to review a blood investigation of a dying dengue patient. The ward staff would either be nowhere around, or will say that he is busy (busier than the doctor?) or the answer I got at that time:
"Doktor nak cepat, doktor turun sendirilah, gaji doktor lagi banyak dari saya"
Even when I was a Specialist, the staff nurses had to be called again and again just to make sure the management plan for the patient would be done. I was already used to answers from them:
“I’m busy with something else"
“My shift is already over"
...it was routine for me.
The Medical Assistants were worse. They would hide behind their so-called boss, the Head of Medical Assistant. They feel hiding behind him would make them not under our jurisdiction, that we have no power to instruct them in managing the patient, that they have power to manage own their own. I've seen them giving medications not as we prescribed, performing procedures without our knowledge, as if they are the actual "Doctors". They are in their own world, and we have to do their job, taking blood, labelling samples, and even cleaning gadgets from the procedures that we have done.
Oh, but the ministry loves this group. They even let them run a clinic now, instead of upgrading the clinics already run by doctors. The government feels that the MAs are very important and should never be ill-treated by those big bad doctors. One time when I was a District Hospital Medical Officer, I was conducting a delivery of a baby. An MA insisted that I remove my car which was block-parking his car. I answered through the phone that I was busy.
He came to the labor room and yelled "Semua orang pun sibuk jugak, macamlah doktor seorang yang sibuk!”
It is insulting that an MA or a staff nurse claims that they are BUSY, as busy as a doctor? As a Malaysian Doctor, I have even worked for 72 hours straight. I have experienced working until my 6 month old daughter did not recognize me at the end of the week.
Is that how busy they are? I am very sure that they are so busy, that they can only spend 2 hours at the nearby Mamak stall, or can only leave at 5:10 PM instead of 5, or can only have 1 hour of lunch.
The management staffs are worse. I have to beg and plead so that I can get my on-call claims, of RM25 per 48 hours of work. While sitting in an air-conditioned office, they will at their own leisure, process my call claims so that I will receive them by the next decade.
The state health or Hospital Director would just give another inspirational talk (of bollocks) on team effort and beauty of teamwork.
That is how Malaysian doctors are treated in the government sector: without respect, without dignity and without significance. Why?
It is because we are bound by ethics to try our best to save lives, despite how ill-treated we are. We hardly have time to complaint because we are too busy or tired, and we would rather spend the precious time resting or seeing our loved ones. The burden of trying to save lives is on our shoulders alone. No MAs or Staff nurses would shoulder it with us. They have their own bosses: the Sisters, Matrons, or Head of MAs, which job description is to ensure that the big bad doctors will not ask their underlings to do extra work.
This is how the Malaysian Ministry of Health have treated their doctors. I am very sure that in each and every doctor, there is a slowly-burning patience in serving the Malaysian people, which will eventually fade and cause them to surrender to serving a place that treats them better.
A few colleagues who graduated from UK choose to serve there:
"The pay is more, and we get the respect we deserve"
Another works in Brunei:
“Here the staff nurses respect Malaysian doctors, and they are very co-operative" (He ended up marrying one)
A few are consultants in Singapore (working with me):
"Here we are treated well, we spearhead the management, and every else do their work to the best of their capabilities".
A few even enjoys working in Indonesia:
“The work-load is horrible since there are a lot of patients, but we are well respected by every hospital personnel" (They have migrated there for nearly a decade)
I am sure that people will see doctors as power-hungry individuals who want to be the boss in the hospital. Trust me, after having graduated 6-7 years of medical school, earning a DEGREE, and subsequently MASTERS, and SUBSPECIALITY, you would expect a degree of respect and being considered important. We are trying our best to improve patient's quality of life, or making sure he lives another day. Is it too much to ask from the system that we are important?
I find that Malaysia is the only country that is making doctors' lives miserable and treated like rubbish. It was never about the pay in the first place. It is about the treatment we are getting and the false political-based promises. Do you know that the so-called circular about doctors can have the day off after working 24 hours straight released JULY 2009 is not yet implemented? Do you know that the raise of UD 41 to 44 does not involve every doctor in the government service?
We are waiting for improvement. We have waited a long time when we were working in the system. Somewhere along the line we decided to leave and wait outside the system. Until the system changes, we will continue to work overseas, in countries which are appreciative of us. Trust me, Malaysian-graduate doctors are considered highly skilful and competent in neighbouring countries, and the 15 % brain drain is more significant than you think.
We will return when the system prioritize us and gives us the quality of life we deserve.
If it stays the same, Malaysian Hospitals would end up having Staff nurses and Medical Assistants as "Doctors", and we would have to send patients to Indonesia for an appendicectomy.
Hear our voice. We hardly speak, but will usually fade away from conflict (and fly to another place).

SetelahHampir19Tahun.

Sile lihat imej yang dibulatkan. Apakah sebenarnya kalian rasa structure tersebut?
Tulang?
Urat?
Nerve?
atau apa2 saje.

Sungguh selama 19 tahun hidup di muka bumi ini kusangkakan ianya adalah tulang. Adapun pula sahabat yang sedang belajar di sebelah aku ni pula ingatkan ianya sejenis urat yang besar.
Namun jauh sekali tekaan2 tersebut ye.
Tidak pula ku fikir dengan lebih mendalam. Bukankah kita telah belajar waktu tingkatan empat lima di sekolah menengah?
Dimana tulang di bahagian forearm (lengan depan?? erkk tak tahu pula apa dalam bahasa melayu nye) hanya ada dua, radius dan ulna.
Jadi mana mungkin ada tulang yang ketiga di situ.

Akhirnya, dalam kuliah anatomy upper limb lah segala kekusutan dan teka teki terlarai sama sekali. Structure yang dibulatkan di atas adalah tendon.
Ingat lagi tak dalam subjek biology dulu ada belajar tendon dan ligament?
aku selalu sangat tertukar function diorang ni. Tendon functionnya connecting muscle and bone while ligament pulak bone dengan bone.

Jadi apa yang dapat kita lihat adalah tendon kepada muscle yang diberi nama palmaris longus.
Cube kalian cek tangan masing2? ada tak tendon ni?
Takde?? Jangan risau. Tak perlu jumpa doktor. Anda masih normal.
Muscle tersebut memang tiada dalam kira kira 1/3 populasi manusia.

Jika kalian nampak ada dua, ponn jangan risau. Tendon yang berada lebih kepada belah ibu jari pula mungkin adalah tendon kepada muscle bernama flexor carpi radialis.
Ok, end of anatomy class. -_-
Nak tahu lebih lanjut? Sila buka buku Grey's Anatomy atau mana2 atlas berkaitan yang boleh didapati di kedai2 buku berhampiran mungkin.

*belajar Anatomy sangat menyeronokkan. Trust me!. Cuma tak seronok bila nak exam je..T.T*

Hati2MesejBerantai.

Sebenarnya isu ni agak lama laa tapi sampai sekarang pun saya still lagi dapat mesej2 macam ni. Tak kira dekat Facebook, YM or emel. mesej yang bagi amaran kalau kita tak forwardkan nanti akan dapat bala, bencana dan sebagainya. Dan kononnya ada syeikh penjaga makam Baginda Rasulullah yang sampaikan mesej ni. Mesti ada yang tak nak fowardkan sebenarnya tapi sebab rasa serba salah forwardkan jugak. Ok, ni ada link mengenai hukum mempercayai mesej atau surat berantai ni. Hati2 sebab boleh bawa hukum syirik. Nauzubillah.
Klik Sini.
Credits to: Hawa from FB
So hati2 la ye kalau dapat mesej2 macam ni tak kira laa apa jua keadaan yang dikhabarkan dalam mesej tersebut.

Hari tu dah dapat result exam sem 1, Alhamdulillah result ok. Cukup untuk membuatkan mak ayah happy dan juga membolehkan impian aku balik Malaysia summer nanti menjadi kenyataan. Yeayy.
Hehe~ tiket flight dah confirm. kali ni betol2 punye sebab dah di print. :D InsyaAllah 19 Julai 2010 bertolak dari Cairo n sampai Malaysia 20 Julai 2010. Sehari kot amik masa nak balik Malaysia. Ni semua sebab transit kat Qatar 9 jam. Nak buat ape lama2 kat airport tuh. haihh T.T

Huhu InsyaAllah Sabtu ni exam lagi. Exam end of Module 5, Musculoskeletal System. Doakan ehh saya dan kawan2. Moga sem ni lagi ramai yang Mumtaz termasuklah saya. Amin InsyaAllah. ^_^

..::KawanPerempuanSayaDi513::..

A: Kau rasa kita kawan sampai bila?
B: Sampai mati mungkin.
A: Kenapa kau cakap macam tu?
B: Sebab aku sayang kau.
A: Kau rasa jarak masa kita berkawan berapa lama lagi?
B: Lima minit lagi.

Si A terdiam lalu bertanya lagi.

A: Apa yang kau cakap ni. Lima minit lagi? Kata sampai mati.
Lalu si B hanya tersenyum. Selepas lima minit, si A melintas hampir2 dilanggar kereta tapi diselamatkan oleh si B. Benar kata orang2 tua, bila hayat hampir tamat, kita dapat rasakannya.
Lalu si B berkata.

B: Aku tepati janji aku. Kita berkawan sampai aku mati.

Lalu si B tersenyum gembira. Akhirnya si B menghembuskan nafas terakhirnya di pangkuan si A. si A hanya mampu menangis Hargai kawan2 yang kamu sayang. mereka takkan kekal selamanya di sisi kita.

credits to; Mr Google.

Tiba2 lewat malam semalam, handphone aku bunyi.
Tanda ada mesej masuk.
Aku pun tengok.
Sender: Sheda.
Aku pon baca.
Mesej di atas tertera.
Dan tiba2, aku rasa sebak.
Touching.
Thank you sheda. :)

*Aku pon tak tahu kenapa aku tacing sangat
mungkin, aku rindu kalian*
..::Sheda::..

..::513::..
*aku nak letak lagi banyak gambar tapi laptop aku rosak dulu so gambar2 dalam laptop hilang dan cdnya ada di Malaysia. Ni je yang ade
Serius.. Tiba2 aku jadi rindu dekat kelas 13 dulu.

Sheda,
mafianya, nampak ganas tapi bab novel ngan korea dia nombor 1. Adik nakal nombor 1 dalam kelas ni.
Timah,
blurnya, gaya tangkap gambar die yang aku ingat sampai sekarang.
Phatyn,
molenya, kepelikannya memang tak dapat dinafikan.
Janna,nampak gaya macam anak bongsu tapi kenyataannya berderet lagi adik2 kat bawah.Paeh,
paeh nangeh. manja seyh. biasalah akak cun kan.
Eza,
mula2 aku jumpa dalam hati, "wahh ayu gila budak ni. comel plak tu." Tak lama lepas tu, terus hilang tanggapan tersebut. dialah sasterawati 513 ni.
Shakirah.
Ustazah. Motor. Rock seyh tapi dengar2 sekarang dah makin ayu.
Ria,
dabu, bunga, cacing. The best three words to describe her.
Mashitah,
bukan calang2 orang nih. pemidato. dulu aku yang start panggil budak kecik ni over sekali sekarang.. terbalik pulak jadinya.
Su,
kroni2 dia; katak dan obor2.
Ita,
gayanya yang tersendiri. tak de sape boleh tiru.

Haha apa2 pon aku serius rindu korang. tacing tak? tacing tak? Mungkin ada antara kalian yang geram dengan kenyataan di atas dan aku tahu apa yang korang nak cakap. Tapi kali ni jawapan aku memang aku ada buat tapi nak buat macam mana ini adalah salah satu tanda yang korang sentiasa ada dalam hati aku taw. haha :D

serius weyh, ak tak taw kenapa malam ni tiba2 je aku tergerak hati nak tulis ni. dah pukul 2 pagi lebih ni weyh. rekod tuh. dan kejadian kat surau aku dengan sheda tak berulang pon. :D:D

whatever it is, may our friendship lasts forever. Sayang korang. :)

MoodMood

Apakah alasan di sebalik mood yang tak menentu ni? hormon mungkin? adoii..Dalam kepala banyak betul yang tengah berlegar2. Result yang bile entah nak keluar. Janji sebelum May tapi tak muncul2 lagi. Dah lah semua orang tengah nervous ni. Ntah boleh ntah tidak balik Malaysia. Doakan kami lulus dengan mumtaznya. aminn. Lepas tu tadi dengar keluar dalam minggu ni plak. Wallahualam akan kesahihannya. Universiti ni memang terbayekk!! erkk

Lagi satu yang menyerabutkan kepala otak; muscle2, bones, nerves serta vessel dalam upper limb yang tak berapa nak masuk dalam otak sangat ni. Banyak lagi nak kena cover ni. Sebelum ni rase cam ok je tapi bila diorang cakap universiti lain ambil masa sampai tiga empat bulan nak belajar upper limb SAJE tapi kitorang kat Alex upper limb dengan bonus sekali lower limb dalam masa 1 bulan 1 minggu. ape kes?? Aku amat mengharapkan tutorial membantu. InsyaAllah, ianya akan amat membantu. Terima kasih groupC section3.. hehe walaupon ak tak rasa korang baca ni.

Nak balik rumah boleh tak? aduhh,, lagi satu, tiket flight pon tak konfem lagi tibe2. naik harga la, kena lewatkan lah. adoii, ape2 je lah! ape2 pon terima kasih dekat ustaz Firdaus yang tolong uruskan. mesti ustaz penat dan serabut. terima kasih sangat2.

sekarang da keluar result mcm2. upu, matriks n insyaAllah tak lama lagi jpa dan mara. To juniors yang kalau ada baca Congratz walau apa pon yang korang dapat. Buat keputusan dengan bijak. Consult ibu bapa, guru2 dan senior2 yang berpengalaman. Nak lagi baik buat solat istikharah. Dan tak semestinya ape yang kita inginkan itu yang terbaik buat kita. Contohnya, maybe kita nak sangat pergi Ireland tapi tiba2 dapat Mesir. Ermm, ade hikmah di sebaliknya tu. rasa macam familiar pulak contoh tu. hehe

Semalam sambut birthday Aiffa n also Jibah in advance. Happy birthday korang. Seronok rasa dah lama tak sembang2 ramai2 dengan budak2 ktt rumah 16. Sayang mereka! :D
Erm, dah rasa ok ckit. hehe tulis blog pon salah satu medium yang baik untuk menghilangkan tensen dan meluahkan apa yang tak terluah.
Jadi, kesimpulannya, semua orang kena SEMANGAT. jangan down2. ok?
hehe apa2 jelah. :))
ini ziyad. comel bukan? my first nephew. nak masuk dua tahun sudah.
To Kak Yong; waktu2 macam ni tengok video Ziyad yang comel amat membantu. bila lagi nak kasi video? hehe kat sini masa dah dilewatkan sejam. Jadi, beza masa dengan Malaysia 5jam je skrg. :) hee