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Comment on Laughter is the Best Medicine 10 by winston

winston — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:10:37 +0000

Doc, in 1Malaysia, the higher the status of the official, the more stupid he/she is!
Fact of life?

Comment on For Future Doctors by Pagalavan Letchumanan

Pagalavan Letchumanan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:08:46 +0000

Firstly i don’t agree Foundation in SCience as the entry qualification for medicine! It is a way for the medical schools to provide easier route for the students to enter their medical college. Foundation in science is NOT a standardised exam like STPM, A levels etc.

What is your purpose in doing medicine? If it is for guaranteed job and money, then I am afraid, you may be dissapointed. If it is for passion than you may be able to put up with all the frustration that comes along the way.

BTW, I know many GPs and doctos now who have started restaurant business. Not bad idea after all.

Comment on For Future Doctors: What if ………….. Part 2 by Pagalavan Letchumanan

Pagalavan Letchumanan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:02:50 +0000

Ha ha of course!

Comment on For Future Doctors: What if ………….. Part 2 by winston

winston — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:01:17 +0000

After five and a half decades of BN rule, everything is going to the dogs, including health care.
Do you agree, Doc?

Comment on An Intersting Case that was Missed! by Shermaine

Shermaine — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:54:03 +0000

Thank you for sharing the case. I totally agree with you regarding the importance of history taking. I am a MO currently serving a rural Klinik Kesihatan. We only have very basic lab support and do not have x-rays service at all. Most of the time we have to diagnose cases base on history and physical examination and I personally feel that we can diagnose more than half of the cases base on history alone (what I mean is a good history). This is even worse when we go for flying doctor service as no investigations at all can be carried out in the field.
As in this case I personally encountered once in which my mother was the patient. She was initially diagnosed with early stage of large B cell lymphoma by a haematologist after discovering a lump at her gluteal region and staging CT and MRI were done (but no brain scan was done initially). Shortly after that, she developed depressive symptoms including poor eye contact, having low mood most of the time, anhedonia and other depressive symptoms. She had no neurological signs at all (physical examination was conducted by myself as well as the specialist in charge) and therefore, she was treated as depression (she also had past history of depression). During that time, she strongly refused chemotherapy and everyone thought that she was in denial and tried to counsel her but within a week time, her condition deteriorated and when she was referred to the psychiatrist, she was thought to be melancholic because she refused to talk, eat and ambulate. As a routine for psychiatry, they need a brain scan to rule out organic cause and the CT brain unexpectedly (atleast for me) showed some finding and they proceeded with MRI brain. However, she deteriorated very quickly and passed away even before the MRI report was out. Her final report stated that there were some suspected lymphoid filtration of the brain matters.
I think in this case, I had not asked myself enough “why” and I missed the big picture of it.

Comment on Laughter is the Best Medicine 10 by DR R

DR R — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:41:26 +0000

Is it spelling error or is it done purposely?..I think either true..

Comment on For Future Doctors: What if ………….. Part 2 by DR R

DR R — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:30:50 +0000

If you are entering medical school for common reason…glamour,payment,respect etc…For viewers of this blog that is not Dr this my advice YOU ARE MISTAKEN…trend now you no need to be excellent student,mushrooming college with profit basis,poor goverment plan make things becoming worst now…think before entering medical school ..but now money can buy anything..

Comment on For Future Doctors by Arif

Arif — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:18:19 +0000

Dear Dr.

I am a high school graduate (finished my spm in 2011) and will be taking foundation in science this year. My results thus far indicate I am academically able to go into medicine. But that may or may not change.

So hopefully if everything were to go well I could enroll in a medical program in 2013 or and maybe finish the MBBS 5 year program by 2018. Would it still be worth it by then?

I’ve always wanted to be a physician since I was kid when I could finally understand what an auntie and uncle of mine did for a living. I have no illusions of it being easy or being a millionaire by 25. Its just a meaningful profession to me. Not just a job but a profession.

Recently, news of over supply of medical graduates and imcompetency of some HO’s have dampened my spirits of entering this field. Will I have even the slightest chance of prospect? Or will I be operating a restaurant with a doctor’s degree?

Your honest opinion on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Comment on For Future Doctors: What if ………….. Part 2 by Pagalavan Letchumanan

Pagalavan Letchumanan — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:56:08 +0000

Yes, I do agree that unethical practices and bullying has been going on for many years. Even when I was a houseman, issues like this are commonn. It will never end and thus we just have to learn how to cope and handle such situation. I know of people who complaint about bullying when they were housemen but ended up bullying housemen when they became MOs!! And don’t think it does not happen in other countries like UK, Australia, Singapore etc. It happens everywhere. The situation in Malaysia will only get worst with more and more unqualified doctors being employed, as you described as ” donkeys”.

She just have to learn to cope with it.

Comment on For Future Doctors: What if ………….. Part 2 by cardiprin

cardiprin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:12:29 +0000

I understand over the years, with mushrooming of medical schools, just like our nurses, the quality of medical graduates in our country suffered a major deterioration.

In fact, I do feel that doctors in the system have the responsibility to communicate the reality to the public, to make sure that all potential medical students really understand the nature of this profession.

Nowadays, more people are joining the profession for the wrong reason (including myself), not knowing what they are getting into, and it does have a major impact on the quality of healthcare delivered to the public.

I suggest an applitude test made mandatory for the entrance into medical school. Of course, the academic requirements must be stringent at the same time. However, with commercialization of medical education, this is far from possible.

I respect the efforts made by Dr. Paga in raising public awareness. Many would choose to bury their heads in the sand.