Good Minister will Hopefully Mean Better Quality Healthcare Services

 

        Another message has gone viral with this link from Free Malaysia Today, reading, "Patients should be given treatment regardless of attire, says minister....  We need this type of minister who dared to speak against injustice, oppression, intolerance, religious hypocrisy ...." 

        This speaks volume about what the people have been expecting to see in the country and its medical services, and why so many of us fought for a new government to be put in place. Even after Anwar Ibrahim is Prime Minister, we are still taking time off from our busy schedule and volunteering ourselves in different capacities to put things back on track. 

        From the grapevine, I have heard many complaints by nurses and doctors in hospitals, both retired and still serving, about how they were treated, and why, for example, over a farewell dinner for a former Hospital Kuala Lumpur director, there was such a furore. Normally, one would expect a farewell dinner would be the sad moments of Auld Lang Syne. 

        I do not know the internal politics within the hospital, but I think I have heard enough to understand the sentiments of our medical staff. Who would be happy to fork out RM250 to pay for the dinner? Such tradition within the ministry and expensive farewell gifts should stop immediately especially with the present economic uncertainty that the country is facing.  

        Whoever wrote the message must have very good reasons to cheer. Yes, it is time for us to have a good person in charge of the ministry, but Dr Zalifa Mustafa faces an uphill task unless key people within her ministry are retired. 

        The two incidents which cropped up within the past one week clearly shows where our public healthcare system was already heading to. Many pundits had foreseen these coming and perhaps more will come, unless the senior officers at the ministry take their jobs seriously. 

        Bullying of medical personnel by their superiors has to stop immediately. It should be obvious to them that the current minister is one who goes down to the ground to hear the complaints herself. 

        No amount of coercion or suppression would force the staff not to reveal the true condition on the ground. I am sure that the minister would have a unit set up specially for the whistleblowers to give her feedback on what is happening on the ground. 

        With this, it is time also for the good hospital employees to be allowed to rise up and shine. It makes me proud when a friend of mine shared her experience after having a successful cataract operation at a public hospital, and I quote her (along with the name of the doctor): 

"Clearer vision yesterday after Dr Haslinda gave me a third kind of eye drop. Yesterday was my first follow-up."

        When asked about the doctor and the medical team, she replied: 

"Yes. Good. Caring, knowledgeable, responsible. In fact, the whole team worked hard. Didn't or hardly had their lunch; otherwise, it would be a hassle for them having to sterilize themselves again. So, they just carried on until they saw the last patient. Fantastic teamwork for a government hospital."

 

       Knowing that in the Ministry of Health, jealousy and the crab culture exists within certain circles, I have to put this on record that if I come to know that Dr Haslinda is being sidelined for doing a good job, I would not hesitate to take the bull by the horn. 

        This testimony from my friend is such a big contrast compared to my own experience with a private eye clinic in USJ Subang Jaya, where I developed problems after several months. I had to visit the clinic three times before the doctor found out the root cause of my problem, which was, in fact, their fault yet, I had to pay another RM2800 through the insurance company for the follow-up treatment. 

        I have to add to this testimony that, when I received my treatment at Institut Kanser Negara, the team of doctors and other medical staff there were superb, compared to what I would get from the private hospitals. One of the doctors has since moved to Kuching. 

        During the pandemic, we have already seen how our frontliners -- the doctors and the nurses -- risked their lives to take care of all the patients around the clock, but not much help was given to take care of their well-being. I am sure, for those who survived the Covid pandemic, they are grateful to these medical staff yet, how many of them are being rewarded for their heroic devotion to their career? 

        I once suggested this to the Director-General of Health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, and I am sure he has forgotten about it. In fact, the hospitals that were picked for Covid treatment should be given the special honour by the King in recognition for their team effort. 

        Without these people, our public health system would have gone to the dogs a long time ago. 

        It is time for us, as fellow citizens, to stand with our Code Blue team members and the new minister to put a stop to the rot within the system. 

        I wish to end with a paragraph from one of my students in creative writing, Carmel Boo. She wrote this (text rewritten to show her how to write better) when she was ten years old:

"Tuanku, I have a wish especially after Covid-19 is under control, that all Malaysians come together and celebrate this moment by remembering the victims of Covid-19. This pandemic not just caused people to suffer but it has also divided the various races in the country. I hope all Malaysians can unite once again as Satu Bangsa as we hold a memorial to the people who died because of Covid-19. Hope this will heal this nation and we will be able to strive together as Malaysians in future."