Dreading the calls

The Final MBBS was finally over. At least I can now say that I was involves without being told off. However the results won't be known until Tuesday morning.

I was involved yesterday afternoon, and I was so proud that the performance of the students during that session was better than I expected. In fact it was amongst the beat session I had in years.

The afternoon session however was very trying as it only finished near 7 pm. I got some food, then it was time to do my evening ward round. That was when my mood changed. There were clearly too many patients for the system to cope without making short cuts. Some patient were down in the Emergency Department from the day before as we were not able to clear the beds out in the wards for them quickly enough. Coupled that with the notion that our Casualty was the beat in the country maybe as there were a couple of patients in the hour I was doing the rounds whose family actually discharged the patients from another hospital and got them admitted here even though a perfectly reasonable treatment could have been offered at the initial centre. The sad thing was, the patient came as far away as JB. I thought that was really out of order. Yes, it was a government hospital. But it was a government hospital for PJ. It was not our fault that there were no government hospitals in Subang, Shah Alam, Damansara and Puchong. But I was sure that the system was not designed to cope with family taking their relatives from out of town to fill in our quota!

I felt that I should have been more strict, or allowed to be strict, and insist on catering on the local residents. Those from outside should only be entertained if the we agree to take the patients on upon consultation from the referring units. We just did not have the financial, logistical and staffing means to cope with such unreasonable demand.

Enough rubbing for today as on the whole Saturday have been kind to me. It was time to spend with the family, and I will blog about that in the later entries.

Eye Time

Left for work extra early this morning. Mum has her eye appointment, and the conclusion was that she would need a pair of bifocals to see better. She got the glasses prescription and maybe in the next few days, we would be dropping by a friend's optician store in Selayang. Mum and Dad regularly visit it.

I'm currently back at home and about to get to bed as I have a long day tomorrow. A couple of patients wanted me to do procedures on them first thing, then the usual long Friday Clinic, followed by exam duties. This weekend would be a long Abd busy one as well as I will be doing some visits. More about those visits in the future entries.

An Inspirational Talk

I had the privilege of being in audience for the inauguration lecture of one of the my most respected Professor at UM, Prof Adeeba Kamarulzaman. She is the Infectious Disease Physician at UMMC and currently the Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Council. Her lecture was mainly on the problem of HIV infection and IV drug user, and how the "tough love" approach by the authority may not be the best way forward. After all, addiction should be seen as a disease which should be approached medically in a systematic manner.

Though I missed the first ten minutes if the talk, I managed to sneaked through the back door and for 45 minutes, she presented arguments on how the problem above should be approached in the future. Even though those nay be ideal, she appreciated the hurdles faced in our community both culturally and politically.

At the end, when the lights were undimmed, I then realised who was in the audience. There was Marina Mahathir, a few of her collaborators home and abroad, a few dignitaries including ambassadors from Europe - Netherlands included which she made the point of the impact on addiction as the ban against marijuana was lifted. Not least was her uncle, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. The University's top brace pale in comparison to these distinguished guests to be honest.

Cafe Stelle, Pavilion

During our outing at Pavilion last Saturday, we had tea at one of the cafe on the foyer of the complex. It was the second floor to be specific next to Godiva, meaning you would to go down a flight of stairs from the main Bukit Bintang entrance. The cafe was called Cafe Steele.

They serve mainly Western and Italian food. The salad and pasta were absolutely gorgeous. I ordered some mash potatoes and sausage for the boys, and the boys enjoyed then as well the food was fresh and the ambiance was also very nice. Of course, it was on the same floor with the posh outlets - I think it was directly in front of a Mount Blanc store.

I ordered salads and brochette. They were very well prepared and the dressing was very nice. But the hot chocolate that Irfan had was the highlight. He was still talking about it until this evening.

Certainly, I would visit the cafe again, but sparingly of course as the pricing there was rather steep. They also do special afternoon tea for two for RM58++. This was certainly highly recommended if you were out for a date.

Ayers Rock Grill

During the Earth Hour yesterday, instead of staying in the dark, I attended a birthday party for Idlan's classmate. The lights at the restaurant was rather dimmed, so I can say that I celebrated Earth Hour, at least, the spirit of it.

Unfortunately, after our afternoon outing to the Pavilion, Irfan developed a fever and Idlan was not feeling too brilliant either. We ended up not taking the boys to the party. And as the parents of the birthday boy was a rather close friend, we just went there to enjoy the celebration, pass on the presents and enjoy the food. The party was held at the Ayers Rock Butcher and Grill at Wangsa Maju, and it was quite a surprise.

The place was rather too small for an indoor party.As the shop was at a corned lot, there were plenty of space on the sides for the game and other fun stuff. About 20 children turned up, they a couple of clowns plus a magician for the games and shows. They also had a live band indoors.

The place was run by a young Malay gentleman, and the premise do not serve any alcohol. As my Dad were always keen on Western Food, I might bring him along one of these evenings. They have other branches opened, in Kota Damansara and Shah Alam, but I do not have their details. The branch in Wangsa Maju was on these GPS coordinates - 3.196585,101.74122