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Thursday, 25 December 2008
This is fair...REALLY FAIR...
I've got a story to tell. Nope, it aint a Christmas carol or tale. Its the usual misfortune of doctors to work in a unforgivable place such as the government of Malaysia, particularly, the Ministry of Health (MOH). In a way, I knew this doctor since housemanship days. She was hardworking, intelligent and constantly works without a single whine (such as myself). She completed her housemanship and progressed onwards to become a Medical Officer. Now, for those who are not aware, housemanship takes about 18 months to do but for the first 12 months, you undergo 3 major postings of 4 months each with a log book filled up at the end. The major postings may include Medical, Surgery, Obst and Gyn, Paediatrics or Orthopaedics. So at the end of 12 months, 3 logbooks must be handed up to the department and subsequently confirmed by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and MOH for the Anual Practise Certificate (APC), thus rendering a doctor "safe" to practise.
Now, the story begins when this doctor mentioned fulfilled the criterias of passing up all her logbooks and proceeded forward and became a Medical Officer (MO). She was a good MO. She was in Medical, then went off to Nephrology whereby she was loved by her staff and her consultant. She was a nephrologist prodigy in the making. She remained there for almost 4 years and plans were made to further her studies.
However, on one fateful day, she received a letter notifying that her 3rd logbook was never received 4 years ago!! To her surprise, and after inquiring the department of her hospital, the logbook never reached MMC or MOH, thus meaning that the logbook had gone missing in the hospital itself after being handed up. Unhappily but undeterred, my friend made an appeal, and MOH/MMC requested thst she hand up the last 3rd logbook. So off she goes collecting signatures again with a new logbook and finally hands it up once completed.
You think it ends there? Not yet. She then hands up the new logbook to Putrajaya MOH and was finally at ease. So she thinks. She then received another letter with regards to the late completion of her logbook and to face disciplinary action for her delay. Nothing much was thought at first, especially with a her consultant and HOD of nephrologist backing her up.
Then the dreaded letter arrived. Her punishment:
1. Her 4 years of service will not be recognized.
2. She will lose seniority and therefore will gain rank and pay slower than her juniors
3. Since her service is no longer recognized, applying for Masters is even more difficult as Masters require at least 3 years working experience
4. There will be a black mark in her professional record which will affect promotions and applying for Master.
She just stood quiet, silent, when she got the news. All the above had to be explained to her as of to a little child. Shock I guess. Pity.
Doctors save lives, but not many would want to save ours.
Nuff said.
00:24 Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this
Comments
It is very sad. We're doctors, we're not administrators. We take care of patient's wellbeing, but who takes care of our wellbeing?
I've worked in hospital whose office is extremely efficient. They called me to come to office to sign for induksi, lantikan tetap, pengesahan dalam jawatan, etc without me needing to ask. I'm glad my journey from housemanship to being confirmed in service was smooth because the office people were concerned.
I've also worked in hospital whose office finds it a chore to take care of doctors' wellbeing. They are paper pushers - pushing all the things that need to be done to the doctor who has no clue that he/she needs to do it in the first place.
I've no statistic to support my claim, but I believe that it is not the job, not the oncall, but how the office treats us that makes us feel unappreciated, thus many of us do leave the service out of frustration.
MOH talks about professionalism and corporate culture in doctors, but MOH need to change the attitude of the office people too.
Posted by: Kerwin | Tuesday, 30 December 2008
This is a very important lesson to learn for everyone, new HO and MO. It has now become 'self responsibility' to check on the office staffs and demand that documentation and registration be done on time.
I have worked long enough in MOH to learn all their shameless incompetent. Initially, no one taught me anything, and that was why my yearly salary promotion was delayed for 2 years and nearly not get registered for Master programme because of the confirmation certificate.
We cannot always rely on those brainless people working in the office to dictate our life and future. Nobody going to loose except ourself.
For that, everyone should be responsible to regularly check on the office staffs to make sure they do their work:
My advise for all:
1. After summiting your log books, call the relevant authority to confirm that they have received them.
2. Make sure you get your permanent registration within 6 months of completing the housemanship, if not, call and bug them.
3. Make sure your annual SKT is summited on time at the end of the year and photostat a copy for reference (this is important for salary increment).
4. Make sure you get your salary increment every year. Everyone would have the month of increment (tarikh kenaikan gaji) and make sure you get the annual salary rise, if not, bug them (don't just sit quiet and expect automatic procedure).
5. Young MO should make sure that they get registered on time for their "Induksi". Always enquire from fellow colleagues from other hospitals and states. If there is delayed, go to the office and make demand.
6. After induksi, make sure you get the certificate and promtly summit to the office. If you don't get your cert, call up the relevant authorities in Putrajaya or state office to enquire. Sometimes, the forms are sitting somewhere in the corner, and no one would bother about it (that's MOH!).
7. Make sure you get the confirmation before going into year 4, if you don't, go to the office to find out the reason and to bug them to speed up. If necessary, one may even need to get to Putrajaya to get things done.
8. For other promotion, one must make sure and be aware when to summit the form. Always ask and compare with your other batch mates from other hospitals and states. Always photostat a copy of whatever forms we have summited to make as prove later.
In short, we should be responsible for our own carrer advancement. Make sure you don't loose out or left behind just because some incompetent people can't do their job properly (loads of them are in MOH!!).
Spread the message.
Posted by: Pseudomallei | Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Thank You for your wonderful advise. I'll try and spread the the word
Posted by: StdUp | Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Now, HOs will go through induksi before they start working. :-)
Posted by: Kerwin | Wednesday, 31 December 2008
No this is not the first and this will not be the last. Wait til you finish the masters and when your service book is misplaced somewhere in the dungeons of the hospitals of KL.
20 years ago,10 years ago, or even yesterday, the problems are all the same. We are second rate citizens and will continue to be.
Too late for some of us but its a dreadful ministry to work for and even more when you are a lecturer for a university. Doublewhammy!
Posted by: no change | Saturday, 27 June 2009
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