More thoughts of Myanmar

I was not sure what really to expect before my Myanmar trip. I tried looking for travel book at Kinokuniya. Zilch! Internet gave a mixed bag of stories, most of them untrue. A couple of days before leaving, there were worries that handphones would be confiscated T the airport, as well scary stories about to leave other communications devices at the airport, to be picked up again on the way out of the country. Internet would also be limited.

But it was much better than expected. It was a very safe city, we were allowed handphones in although we were not able to connect to any of the local networks. There were no problem taking laptops and cameras in. In fact, the Immigrations Officers at the airport was very courteous and efficient. The hotel we were put up in was very comfortable and smack in the city centre. The Internet was rather sketchy, with Google being blocked. Internet was generally very slow but in the early hours, it was more than adequate. I was able to assess emails from the lobby wifi, and the signals in the room enabled me to log into my blog, twitter and Facebook.

During the stay, we were taken to a couple of temples as well as the main shopping market. Myanmar was steep in Buddhism. In fact close to 80% of the people were Buddhist, reflected by the number of temples in town. The biggest one was definitely Shwedagon, which we vested on the second day we were there. People there lived a simple life, reflected by the way they dressed up and the way they communicate - you'd be surprised at how many of them can communicate very well in English. On one of the evenings, I actually visited one of the Sunni mosque, only about 300 meters from my hotel. Unfortunately, not many of them can speak English there, and I performed my Maghrib prayers there. There were mainly Indian Moslems coming to Yangon to make a living rather than the local. That explained why they were not Hanafi.

On the last afternoon before we left, we were taken to the main market, the Bugyoke. A typical market, selling bangles, T-shirt, as well as the local jades and rubies. I did not buy any of these precious stones, because first of all, they were damn expensive and secondly, I really can't tell if they were really precious. Better to be safe, to avoid being conned big time.

All in all, Yangon was a very safe city. Yes, there were beggars and children running around, but they were polite when you turn around and said no. The weather was very warm during the day - apparently we just missed the Monsoon season. The time there was an hour an half behind Malaysia, and it was better to use American Dollars for transaction.

Sports Day

I remember during my school days, be it primary or secondary, Sports Day was a big deal. I was a keen sportsman when I was young, sprinting as wells games. Therefore, there was a clear reason why I love sports days.

Yesterday, it was Sports Day for Sri Utama. There, the sports events seems to have taken a back seat, as the main highlights during day was of cheerleading and marching. Both the boys were involved, and it was havoc. Idlan went first with his house marching. He was at the front on the queue and I can only catch a glimpse of him when he was jumping. Irfan and his kindergarten group came last. He was not very pleased as he had to wait in the sun. Children these days ....

Last year event took place at the school ground. They had a few constructions going on there, so the event this year was at the UIA Sports Complex, a proper stadium, complete with running tracks.

Since the were still young, they did not have any serious events. Irfan had telematch in which everybody won medals. Idlan participated in a 25m x 4 relay. He was the second runner and was more happy staring at his baton, than sprinting to the finish. He came third and missed out on the medal. Suffice to say that he was not that impressed when Irfan showed him his medal.

I was asked to give away the medals for the kindergarten boys and girls. Since I know most of Irfan's classmate from his birthday party, they were right confused when I gave away the medals.

It was getting warm by the time we were ready to go. The sun was bright and the children were getting restless. We left by about 11, heading to The Curve for lunch after a quick change.

iMac. Therefore I am.

I know. It has been a couple of days since I updated the blog. I have been busy. Busy configuring the new iMac. Finally had to buy one since the 6 year-old iMac G5 gone kaput last month. Managed to salvage some of the data out but updating all the new apps into the new unit took me quite a while.

Then came the iOS 4.3 update for the iPhone. I finished upgrading the iPhone just now. Next will be the iPad. But first things first. I had to take Anita for some errands tonight, getting ready for the School Sports Day tomorrow. I will be taking the 7D along and shooting videos with it since I have enough firepower to do some HD editing using the new iMac. Looking forward to that. Might be uploading some to YouTube. The account has been kind of lonely of late .....

Evening Talk

Would have updated the blog earlier if not for the TV. Was watching Air Crash Investigations. I know, a sick hobby. But what to do.

After a long day, I attended a dinner talk at KL Hilton earlier. Talk was delivered by a speakers from Naples - or Napoli as he called it. The speaker was OK but it was one of those awkward talk where the subject matter has been covered so many times and the information has become common knowledge, at least to my circle. The speaker said his piece but what we wanted to do was share experiences and ask him about his usual daily practice. What would he do faced with day to day patient care delivery, not what the latest publications was suggesting - not to mention the vast majority of my patients won't be able to afford those treatment anyhow.

The speaker took about an hour to cover his talk, and by the time he answered our queries 20 minutes later, everyone was becoming restless about their empty tummies already. I would rather be in a talk which lasted 30 minutes, but we were allowed 39 minutes for Q&A session. To be fair, the sponsor for the talk allotted 40 minutes for the speaker, but the speaker went overtime.

Dinner itself was nice though, and since it was buffet, it was "efficient", meaning, one can eat quickly and leave. The baked cod in soysauce was really succulent, and went for seconds. I finally reached home just after 10. I just finished reading my RSS feed and journals, it was time for bed. I just wished that the talk was less formal and that bit shorter. One have to go to work tomorrow .... At least it was not as bad as a colleague of mine from Kota Bharu who flew one just to listen to the talk and left right after......

The Eye-opening Visit

The female ward at the UnitIt has been a long tiring day but I felt compelled to write this blog entry as the memory was still etched in my mind. The time I spent at the Haematology Ward at Yangon General Hospital was rather inspirational and should I be given the chance, I would more than happy to give it another visit.

Before I go on any further, I would not pretend that the health service there was any better than ours. But the main different was, how the Doctors and patients there cope with the severe limitations that they have over there. Things which we took for granted here were luxuries, be it, the ability to use sophisticated tests to help diagnose and treat our patients, the availability of modern drugs, in terms of chemotherapy and even basic antibiotics, as well as the superior human resource that we have here.

At the entrance to the Day Care Unit. Notice the cool sarong and slippers?I wonder what this thing does ....Let's start from the patients. They came from far and wide mtgs major difference there was, given the choice between modern medicine and traditional remedies, they would prefer modern. Maybe, the scarcity shape their thinking as here, many patients arrogantly prefers the traditional means even when they do more harm to them. The patients there appreciate the care being offered, that bit more than what we do here. The extended family will stay with the patients while they were being warded, and since some of them traveled many days to the hospitals, all the family members would sleep at the hospital with them. These family member would then become helpers, they do the chores, such as lifting patients, cleaning - even the toilets, distribute food. Realising their invaluable help, the hospital actually have a separate area for these caters to sleep should they wish, a separate toilet, kitchen and even social rooms with TV. For them, the nurses job was to assist the Doctors. The family members would do the cleaning and changing for them.

The patients here would have to pay for the drugs themselves, but the blood products, hospital stay as well as doctors fee were provided by the government. Realising that not everybody can afford the medicines, the Doctors utilises the help from NGOs as well as judicial use of generic products. The Pharmaceuticals also lent their hands through generous discounts and donations. I even saw some of the ward furnitures had Pharmaceutical company names etched on them.

This patch of green was personally planted by a retired Haematology Professor. He wanted his patients to enjoy nice views.The isolation ward on the second floorThis room was maintained by the monastry and were usually occupied by sick monks. These three were on various stages of leukaemia treatment.The common room for the relatives. All of them chipped in, making life easier for everybody. The place was very, very clean.Contributions from the Pharma companiesLastly, let me mention about the staffs. The Doctors there were being paid a pittance and brain drain had been a major issue for the country. In UMMC alone, there were six Myanmar Doctors I knew who worked in various fields of Medicine. They had to move abroad for better living, as well as a chance to have advance training. Yes, there were a few large private hospital I saw during my stay in Yangon, but only very few people can afford them. Medical Insurance was not something well-established in the country.

In the Haematology Unit which I visited, there were only five nurses on duty at any one time, as well as the Doctors there working everyday including Sundays. It was not uncommon that they admit 20 patients daily just in the Unit alone. But all the staffs there seemed unusually content. They welcomed us with open arms. We were taken round the Unit, meeting the patients and seeing the facilities, and not one complain we heard from them even off the records. When asked what they really needed for the development of the Unit, they mentioned funding for their juniors to advance their trainings. Such generous attitude.

Enjoying the nice, freshly-brewed Myanmar tea. I had three cups. Typical greedy capitalist that I was.It sure was an experience, something valuable which I appreciated more than the actual time in the lecturer hall listening about he latest therapy and how good they were. If I were invited again to go to visit another similar country, I would definitely find a way to see how the Doctors there cope. I was surer there were plenty I could learn.