Plight of Junior Doctors

I found this to be a compelling read this morning, and one hope that steps are taken to change it.

I REFER to the letter “Act fast so our doctors can do their job” (The Star,April 17) and wish to make a slight correction.

The Public Services Commission (PSC) conducts special interviews for new doctors, dentists and pharmacists three to four times monthly, and not twice weekly as stated by the writer.

Nevertheless, I agree that the interview process does not pose any delay in the recruitment exercise as the candidates can apply online and book their prefered interview appointments well in advance and the procedures is explicitly displayed on the PSC’s website:www.spa.gov.my. And, true enough, appointment letters are issued to the candidates on the same day after the interview.

The plight and frustrations of the housemen and doctors in the government service have been highlighted several times in the media and yet scant attention has been given to ease their sufferings. They are also paid a pittance in salaries and allowances.

Your news report entitled “RM6,000 a month for docs after two-year housemanship” by Izatun Shari (The Star, March 6, 2008) and comment “Good way to keep government docs and housemen happy” by V.K. Chin (The Star, March 18, 2008) were happy news, but sadly, it has not been put in place until today and remains a dream. Would the Health Ministry and Public Services Department care to clarify?

Housemen and doctors in the government service have been suffering in silence for years without proper and adequate remuneration and allowances. The conditions they work in, especially in remote locations, are pathetic and deplorable. They deserve better.

Often enough, at least two to three times per week, they are required to work on a 36-hour on-call schedule on each occasion, and they are required to get back to work again the next day after merely 12 to 16 hours’ rest.

Incredible and unbelievable work pattern that contravenes international labour standards/practices and our own Employment Act 1955 that stipulates that “no employees shall be required to work for more than eight hours per day and if overtime work is required, it shall not exceed four hours per day.”

Currently, all medical graduates must undergo the compulsory two-year housemanship and a further three years of mandatory government service before they are accorded full registration by the Malaysian Medical Council.

Although on completion of four of the five-year compulsory service, the doctors are permitted to apply to do their masters/specialisations, it must be noted that they do not get any paid study leave nor fully paid sabbatical leave to pursue their masters, which is accorded to their counterparts in the government service. Instead, they are required to continue to go to work and be on long and protracted call duties.

It must also be understood that unlike other graduates who take three to four years to complete their undergraduate studies, medical studies take between five and a half years in Malaysia, the UK, India, Australia, etc, and six-and-a-half years in Indonesia, Russia, USA, etc to compelete.

The PSC and PSD have failed to acknowledge and recognise the difference between medical graduates and other graduates. And this is the very reason that the doctors are just lumped into the general 41 salary scale together with other graduates who are spared the mandatory five-year service and their undergraduate studies take a shorter period to complete.

It is high time that the Government established a Medical Services Commission to address the various issues, grouses and unhappiness of doctors.

FRUSTRATED & BURNT-OUT DOCTOR, 
Penang.

The Great Stephen Hawking Taken Ill in Hospital

Leading scientist Stephen Hawking is "very ill" in hospital, his employer Cambridge University has said.

A spokesman said Professor Hawking was undergoing tests at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.

The spokesman said the 67-year-old, who has motor neurone disease, had "been unwell for a couple of weeks".

More update as the news becomes clearer.

Update on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:40PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

The message from Cambridge is promising, but Addenbrooke is keeping it shush!

LONDON – The family of physicist Stephen Hawking expects him to recover fully from a chest infection that has left him hospitalized,Cambridge University said Tuesday.

Hawking "was being kept in observation" at Addenbrooke's hospital after being admitted Monday.

"He is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery," the university said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the scientist's condition had actually improved or whether the family was merely basing its remarks on hopes for his improvement.

The hospital declined to comment, referring all calls to the university.

Tax Return Due in 10 Days Boys and Girls

Well it is the time of the year again. Time to brush up on your clicking skills doing e-filing or to find out where your nearest Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri branch to your place. Deadline being next Thursday week, we have about 10 more days to do so. At least the deadline has a built in Hari Buruh holiday bundled together the next day. Just in case you need to burn the midnight oil, or to cool down after a quarrel with the spouse .... it can be a tense affair. As for me, I have filed mine in last week, and I did it 'old school', submitting them my local branch in Wangsa Maju.

The American had their deadline last week, on the 15th to be precise. Even my friend Barack and Michele filed theirs in - I'm sure with their accountants lining up to offer their service. And the details are available on the Net. Maybe our politicians will follow suit and make their returns accessible as well. But I'll leave that for other bloggers to comment. The numbers show that the Obamas pay nearly a million in total tax, with their income topping 2.5 mil. And this is before he became President. Mind you, he is also an author, and that's where the main bulk of the income come from.

Closer to home, I found this piece from a fellow blogger which I thought is well worth a read. He highlighted 13 tips for us to cut on our returns. It's too late for me but some of the pointers I have already followed. Amongst them, to file separately rather than join - the Obamas filed in a joint return, buy property below 250K etc - thanks Champdog.

Early Bird Did Not Catch Anything, a Flu Maybe ....

.... Well at least in my case for going to the book fair a day early, as described in my previous entry. It was finally opened officially yesterday with the usual bang I suppose. The Deputy Prime Minister @ Education Minister was not there, and his text was read by his deputy, Dr Wee Ka Siong.

What caught my eye was the fact that the literacy statistic did not mention digital media as a mode of how we get our reading fix. It may be a sign of the times, but we are at risk of being left behind here. All the developed society, be it in the West or Japan has embraced digital technology whole-heartedly. They 'consume' their news rather than read. The enjoy many mode of digital deliveries and I see this as the way forward. By 2020, I am sure a significant chunk of the public will consume their media digitally, from newspaper, magazines and progressing to even novels through either Kindle or audiobooks. As I mentioned, I get my news daily via RSS feeds and listen to them on the way to work via podcast. I don't read much newspaper now.

KUALA LUMPUR: Although Malaysia has among the highest literacy rates in South-East Asia, Malaysians prefer light reading material like newspapers and magazines to books.

According to literacy statistics, out of 85% of Malaysians who read regularly, 77% of them prefer newspapers, 3% read magazines, 3% read books and 1.6% read comics.

“If we were to compare with American citizens, 53% of them read fiction and 43% of them read non-fiction books.

“Malaysians are more inclined to read light material while citizens from developed countries read books,” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said at the launch of the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2009 at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.

The text of his speech was read out by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

I suggest we move ahead and organise a conference of alternative media. We should encourage local podcast production to supplement the flowering blogosphere flourishing at the moment. I think the power that be should go ahead and embrace it rather than fear it.

To The Conference I Go .....

I spent the whole day attending a Haemostasis Conference at the Mutiara Crowne Plaza. Haemostasis is essentially the study of how blood clots, or why it doesn't. It was followed right after with the Annual General Meeting of my society, Malaysian Society of Haematology. It was almost 6 when everything finished, and I have some more sessions to attend tomorrow.

I went to a similar meeting last year, by the same organiser and recognise a number of the speakers. The difference was, that was held in Bangkok. The meeting today was sleekly organise. I am sure that the sponsor put attention to details to who they pay to run the event. During one of the breaks, I managed to have a chat with one of the organiser.

For the last couple of years, Bangkok has been the preferred venue for ASEAN regional meetings, be it medical conferences or others. The reasons; venue, cost and facilities.

Let's start with venue. I know that I should be proud with our KLIA, but in terms of carriers landing at the airport, we are well behind Suvarnabhumi, at least before the latest unrest in Thailand. One can get a direct flight into Bangkok from all over the world. Compared to KLIA, usually we need a transit either in Bangkok or SIngapore. Hence the obvious preference if there are parties traveling from outside the region.

Cost, yes, even though organising meetings in KL is cheaper than in Singapore, we can't compete with the going rate in Bangkok. The unofficial line is, for a single patron attending a meet in Singapore, the same cost can cover for three. Malaysia is somewhere in between.

Let's talk about facilities. When we talk about facilities, we are not just talking about place to stay and the PA system. Most of the big events actually fly in a dedicated event management team from abroad anyway to run the show for them. The visitors apart from staying in good hotel with fantastic facilities, needs to be wined and dined, taken to memorable places to visit. It is all about the whole experience. They don't often remember what they heard in the conference hall - at least that applies to me. They are more likely to tell their colleagues about what they saw, what they experienced. For this meeting for instance, the dinner tonight will be held on top of KL Tower. For me, I have other engagement and can't attend, but that's beside the point. I am sure trips will be organised to visit KLCC and other local landmarks.

As it stands at the moment, we should be bigging it up! We got the venues. We got the facilities. And we got the security, and security is priceless. So we shouldn't be to worried about cost issues, unless Singapore do a big discount that is! However the lack of direct flights do post problems to some organisers, especially coming from Europe and America. The way I see it, one of the ways the Tourism Ministry can promote tourist is by making Malaysia an attractive destination for conferences. Not just for KL, but Langkawi, Penang and other similar locale.