Bring the Pasar Back!

Talking about renovations, when I was walking from the Menara Utama to Menara Timur yesterday, I realised that the main corridor linking the two were closed. There was a big sign blocking the way. It used to be main walkway for patient transfer. It turned out that there was a some renovation work going on at Pasar Siti Khadijah, a foyer at Menara Timur.

It was called a pasar - meaning market - because back when I first joined UMMC, once a month, usually after payday, there were stalls being erected there, selling clothes, foodstuffs, gifts and I used to enjoy going there to buy some pickles. I knew the nurses like the market, and so were the patients. I used to buy pickles and snacks for the nurses back then. Unfortunately, the market stopped operating three years back. Not sure why, but it was a crying shame.

So far I have seen that they have put on a coat of paintAt the moment, the foyer were used for indoor sports, patient gathering and assembly points. I'd say, bring the pasar back!

Cleaning Time

It was a shock for me when I arrived in the ward this morning for my ward round. All the patients had been moved around and things were stacked up at the corridors. A nightmare scenario wading through the ward as all the patients were squeezed into a small room. The main ward floor were being polished. Spring cleaning time!

In the last few years, since the major renovation were done on Menara Timur where my ward was located, we have had problems with infection. The renovation in the last year were directly below my ward. Since then, we had been doing regular cleaning and polishing - I think the major clean-up were being done every three months. The results from this intensive cleaning had been very good. It was rather inconvenient on the day though, but being clean is important!

I couldn't wait to get out from the ward with the noise from the machines, as well as the smell of the chemicals they poured onto the floor was driving me nuts. If I felt bad, imagine what it would be like as a patient?

Finished the rounds, and is now enjoying the air-conditioning in my room. Argh! Careful! I might fall asleep. Hunger is a potent inducer for sleep for me!

Back at the Office

Managed to snooze for half an hour after sahur, but that was just about it. I was woken up by phone calls from patients looking for me in clinic, and after three of them, I decided it was not worth the hassle going to sleep again.

Better get this mess cleared up thenSince I have some paperwork to do, I might as well head to UMMC to do some typing, then return after Jumaat Prayers there. I have another meeting at KL Hilton with Iftar later. Will have to venture out again.

Haematology Update

For the first time, we successfully organised an update program for Haematology at UMMC. In the end, we just grit on and organised one. For the longest time, we were contemplating doing one. One Monday afternoon, Sangkar came up with the idea, and I just got the ball rolling.

We really did not know what to expect. As it would be held on the last weekend before Ramadhan, so we were not sure how motivated the attendees might be. We also decided to advertise the event locally, and also on facebook. We ended up in the end with 80 attendees when in the original plan, we would be happy with just under 50.

We also managed to get excellent speakers in, one of them from Kota Kinabalu. We also managed to get sponsorship from a Pharmaceutical company for food and drinks. We did the logistics and invitations ourselves in the end. I was glad that it worked out fine, although I wished that we got a bigger hall and one with lighter air conditioning - it was Dewan Pulasari at RUKA. It was way too cold!

We would definitely be holding something similar in the future. The topics would be more focused as well I hoped. Maybe twice yearly? Anything more than that might be difficult with other meetings going on. After the meeting, I must say I was quite knackered, ending up taking a long nap later that afternoon!

Spring Clean

Well, it was way past due that my room at Menara Timur was given a quick cleaning. Last week, as Prof Ikram moved out from his room at the Faculty Office, he had his staff moved quite a bit of his staff back into the room which I have been sharing with him for the past five years. However, he had hardly been in, juggling from the Faculty and the UMMC Director's Office. And with Edmund, another room ate of mine not using the room much, I was practically king in the room, hence it being unkept.

I spent a good chunk of the morning, prior to my tutorial, cleaning it up. It was quite interesting seeing the amount of junk I had accumulated over the years. In the end, I managed to fill up five big black plastic bags. Hauling them out of the room took some doing. I wicked I had brought my shredder from home to reduce the amount of papers I needed to clear up, then take it to the recycling area. Some of the documents were rather sensitive though, like my research data and patient notes. To shred they must.

Now that it was done, it was time to pack some of them away ........