“Let the young know they will never find a more interesting, more instructive book than the patient himself.”—Giorgio Baglivi
You can read the previous entry of Physicians’ untold stories HERE. This post was written in support of Malaysian Code black movement.
The year 2001, December
After saving MYR5000 working as a house officer for 6 months, my mum convinced me to buy a MYR170k terrace house in my hometown.
I still remembered the day I applied for my first bank loan. I was trying to get a 90% loan and my sister promised to top up the balance.
“ Are you sure you can service the loan?” That was the first question posed by the bank officer.
With a monthly installment of MYR 750+ based on my income of MYR1800+, it took me a few trips to the bank to convince them I would be punctual in the payment because I was a permanent government officer!
The Year 2002, February 3am
It was a crazy day, I had been busy clerking patients for the last 12 hours. Life’ just gone nuts after office hours because I would be the only house officer alone in the ward in charge of two male and two female medical wards.
I got tons of procedures to do- chest tube insertion, stab peritoneal dialysis, long central line insertion, arterial blood gases etc. I had skipped my lunch and dinner.
Sometimes I wonder if any sane people in this world would do the job that I was doing other than people who have passions for this profession. My pager had been beeping for the last 15 mins about a 15 year old feverish boy with an angry father.
“ Doc, my son has been sitting in the ward for the last 3 hours waiting for you, he has been having a high fever for the last one week. Why don’t doctors have a sense of urgency? “ Obviously the patient’s father was furious.
Yes, I was exhausted and hungry but my heart hurt more than my body.
It struck me that the public, even patients I’d treated, weren’t hearing the truth about what it actually means to be a doctor.
Although practicing medicine may be an overworked, underappreciated and underpaid line of work, this career gives me the opportunity to see the most heartbreaking and heartwarming stories in my patients’ and my own life.
The predicaments of junior doctors were ignored and always brushed off. The non-medical people especially the politicians weren’t hearing the true story and the difficulties faced by junior doctors. I certainly support all of you, my junior doctors because I myself had gone through hell and felt the same way during my junior years.
