Election fever

I hate corruption, I hate nepotism, I hate cronyism.

But who’s to say if PR threesome (PKR PAS DAP) comes to power, they wont do those things? These things usually happen when people are power-hungry and money-hungry… PR has so much difficulty finalizing names for election candidates, sometimes overlapping even! Such disorganization will only lead to money politics.

The biggest parasite so far, Anwar Ibrahim who was then DPM and Finance minister and UMNO strongman, gave projects and contracts to his friends and family during his good old times. Jailed 6 years for corruption. Then he got out, planned big scale defections and lied about it. He didn’t swear off on his second sodomy case. In fact, while the court still on trial, he still can go overseas giving lectures and meeting dubious VIPs… He claims the justice system is unreliable and yet he didn’t make so much noise when he was acquitted from his second sodomy case.

Sabah oh Sabah (part 2)

If you get sick, don’t get sick in Sabah.

This is no joke. It’s just too messy and the system itself is too ridiculous. I work for the system and I vouch for it. At one point, we let a lot of Filipinos illegal immigrants take our good beds and left the good Malaysian citizens with none. No bed available in the ward has become a norm rather than an exception.

Not full-bedded and not chaotic. Definitely not my hospital…

Sabah oh Sabah

I like Sabah in general, it’s peaceful, beautiful with friendly and kind people. But there’s a downside to that when a city boy from KL like me comes to Sabah. I have kept this inside boiling for so long, but I have been in Sabah for 6 months I guess I should say something about some attitude that I don’t like about few Sabahans… It’s not a generalization, but you can see this practiced in a lot of places.

Traffic

Sabahan sleeping in lorry during rush hour

Weekend snippets – midlife crisis?

It’s been long since I updated this blog – I was busy working to replace people on holiday; there was christmas and new year, and then there was post christmas and new year holidays some people are taking. Then come along Chinese new year where I worked like crazy for 3 weeks and got a leptospirosis scare and get MC for 3 days.

Adventurous two months. A lot of hours are spent working and working. Got me thinking. Is this what I really want in life? Well, that’s quite a midlife crisis. It’s very true for some KKM doctors though – when we are overworked and underappreciated, we will rethink our life’s game plan. Even when we are just in our late 20s.

Snippets – clarity clearance

At this time of the year my feet are getting itchy again, perhaps for some more traveling and backpacking… I always get jealous when my friends are traveling, but I am pretty competitive. I would travel (to same place or different place) with more show offs!

I have been traveling since childhood, but my traveling pace grew exponentially when I was in medschool. Since the medschool days, I have been traveling independently with very limited budget, limited halal food choices, limited experience and God knows the language barrier I always ran into. But I have always loved it. The best thing about traveling for me are:

Greece – ancient wisdom, Cyclaedic beauty

Spain – living with style

Egypt – keep on making history

When becoming MO

Emergency retrieval unit

- Responsibilities increase, a medical officer has to oversee all patients, knowing cases from A-Z. Something gets wrong, the MO will be bambooed, not the houseman. People will look to MOs for leadership.

- A Medical officer has to buck up and upgrade his/her knowledge as well as knowing ward management skills, or in my case emergency department management skills. He or she can no more work like medical students or houseman. Instead, they need to supervise and teach the houseman, so that they won’t kill or do harm to any of the patients under their care.

Day 1 Tagging – Sabah Style!

Tagging day 1 as a medical officer in another hospital in borneo is very nice. HOs are plentiful, MOs are nice and approachable, the specialists are only three but great. MO tagging is not as crazy and stressful as HO tagging.

The medical staffs (nurses, medical assistants and PPKs) are friendly and respectful, and not yelling (unlike most places in Klang Valley). Patients are not very demanding. The spectrum of illness in Sabah is a little bit different than in peninsula. On my first day, I saw cases which are rarely seen back in peninsula such as malaria and rheumatic fever.