At the same time, he has also written some suggestion of what you can do if you quit housemanship http://chroniclesofaloner.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/life-after-medicine/. I found it quite interesting and decided to mention it in my blog.

As for his reasons for quitting housemanship, I have been saying it all the while that medicine is not about having good life. Recently, I received an email from a houseman who is thinking about quitting medicine. This is what she wrote:

“Despite financial constrain, I borrowed almost 200k from various place, worked part-time in fast food shops and do a few odd jobs to earn money, to complete the mission which i have started. I studied day and night and obtained decent results to work as a doctor in Malaysia. I came to Malaysia with a lot of dreams. Good job, good money and good life. I didn’t begin my job properly. Because, i’m confuse with many things. What i learn partially different than what I am doing. I am trying to learn. But they are not giving me space to grow. Money doesn’t matter anymore. My life has gone. Now, because of these unethical educated bullies, i have lost my confidence, self-esteem and dignity in front of a lot of people. I can earn money anywhere. But not my LIFE. I scared and worried that I will be mentally ill through the torture that I am going through at hospital. I might be just one of the victims. But, still I am. Enough is Enough. Unless the system is reviewed and properly structured, i bet more mentally and emotionally ill doctors will be produced. Others can name me anything. But they can never feel, what i does deep within me. This is definitely not part and parcel of doctors life. DOCTORS don’t deserves this humiliation. They deserve better treatment. Professional must go through professional and ethical training. In short, we want doc’s Life and not dog’s Life. “

I told her that the biggest mistake she made is thinking that she is going to have “Good job, good money and good life” as a doctor. That never happens! If you go back to all my postings since 2010 under For Future Doctors series, I have constantly said that if you are doing medicine for these reasons, you will definitely be frustrated. Whether there are seniors who are bullies or not, the job is tough and there is no such thing as good life. The shift duties has definitely reduced the workload but not responsibility. Your responsibility increases as you go higher in medical field. I told her that I work 24hrs a day and 7 days a week single-handedly. How can I handle this ? because I have gone thru tougher times before! Taking huge loans is not a good idea either!

I am sure many of you wanted to rant something after reading my articles over the last few days regarding jobless nurses, brainless Ministry of Health, compulsory rural posting for specialists and very soon, jobless doctors!

Well, in Johor we have a Land For Rant! You can come here and rant whatever you want! Sounds like Speaker’s Corner? It is situated opposite Setia Tropika housing estate when you take the old road from Pontian to Gelang Patah/second link.

IT’s a big land indeed!

It also says that all Housemen who completes housemanship in Klang Valley will be transferred out (page 16) and any transfer back will only be entertained after 3 years of service except in certain special situation (page 20). For those who are being transferred to East Malaysia, you may request to transfer back in 2 years. Of course, if you are accepted into Master’s programme, you will be transferred to the training centre.

In July 2006, I wrote an article in MMA Magazine ” Future of Government Doctors: Die Another Day? “ http://pagalavan.com/my-mma-articles/july-2006future-of-government-doctors-die-another-day/. This was my last sentence:  “There will come a time that we would be told that “if you don’t like the system, you may leave”. Since the “World Is Not Enough” we would be asked to go all over the country for promotions since the posts available are going to be limited. We can “Never Say Never Again”. The administrators are NOT going to be “The Spy Who Loved Us” but rather they would become “Goldfingers” and “Thunderballs”. In near future (not long, just another 5-7 years!), we are going to become “Dr. No”- body and since “You Only Live Once” and not twice, we will “Die Another Day”……………or we may just end up playing “Casino Royale”…………..”     How true has it become!

Since Housemanship is being given on contract basis, it makes it much easier for MOH/SPA to force people to go to rural areas. If you don’t want to go, you may become jobless. Only if you accept the offer, the contract may be renewed or you may be accepted into permanent civil service

As for specialist, you may be transferred out to rural hospitals after your gazettement for a 6 months posting. In “circular” language, 6 months means 1 year as the paper work to transfer back will take a few months. They may make this compulsory in order for you to be accepted into subspeciality training programme. Overall, you may need to wait 1 year after gazettement for subspeciality training, depending on the waiting list. From 2011, all specialist who were accepted into subspeciality training will be bonded for atleast 3 years, not including the 5-7 years bond for your Master’s programme.

I feel that all doctors should serve in rural areas during their life as a doctor. You will learn alot especiallly about social circumstances and working with limited facilities. However, I feel that a doctor who had already served the rural area as a MO etc, should not be forced to do it again.

As I keep saying, life is not going to be easy for future doctors………….

circular : PANDUAN PENEMPATAN DAN PERTUKARAN PEGAWAI

Wajib ke luar bandar

2012/02/08

Doktor pakar dikehendaki bertugas 6 bulan di pedalaman

KUALA LUMPUR: Doktor pakar yang menjalani latihan di kawasan bandar kini diwajibkan berkhidmat di luar bandar dan pedalaman termasuk Sabah dan Sarawak selama enam bulan sebelum diberi pilihan untuk bertukar berkhidmat ke kawasan lain.

Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan, Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman, berkata arahan itu terkandung dalam Panduan Penempatan Doktor Pakar bagi Tempoh Enam Bulan di Hospital Luar Bandar yang dikeluarkan Disember lalu bagi mengimbangi penempatan doktor di luar bandar dan pedalaman.

As usual our Health Minister does not seem to know what he is talking about. There are 2 group of nurses: the diploma holders and the post basic nurses. All nursing colleges including private and government funded only produce diploma holders and they are known as staff nurses!! Only after they complete their basic nursing board certification, they can apply for post basic training to become specialise nurses in maternity, cardiac, neuro, ICU etc. There is no such thing as specialised training at diploma level even before they can become staff nurses. ALL of them only undergo “general” training”.

So, in order for them to undergo specialise training, they need to get a job in the first place. So, what the hell is the MOH talking about. The short term knee jerk reaction will be to promote some nurses to higher level which is vacant and creat more vacancy at the lower level. Again, this will not be enough to absorb all, as the MOH nursing graduates themselves is more than enough to fill up this post at the moment.

And they are also blamming the private colleges now! I mean, who the hell in the first place approved all these coleges to produce such a large number of nurses, majority of substandard quality? The private colleges are here to make money/profit and not for some social service. This is a well known fact! The same situation is also happening to radiographers, physiotherapist, dispensers etc. Can MOH kindly look into this as well.

Gosh, probably 3-5 years from now, I will writing the same thing as above again, but for doctors!! At least the nurses have Nursing Board examination for quality control!

Mismatch between training and market needs for specialised nurses

However, I notice this announcement in Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society(MPS) website quite interesting http://www.mps.org.my/newsmaster.cfm?&menuid=37&action=view&retrieveid=3562.  Remember what I wrote on 6/10/2011 http://pagalavan.com/2011/10/06/i-told-you-so/ that there will come a time when doctors will not be allowed to dispense medicines ? Well, it is coming!

If you look at the MPS website announcement below, it is clearly stated that the government will outsource medication dispensing services under the 1 Care scheme to community pharmacist. A standard list of drugs will be provided and paid by the National Health Scheme under 1Care. So, I am not sure where the GPs dispensing rights will stand. Probably, they may ask GPs to hire pharmacist if they want to dispense medicine but then the statement “Pharmacy premises not to be shared by non pharmacy related services” is clearly stated.

Whatever said, the change is coming for better or worst! Just be prepared. It is not the rakyat alone who is going to be affected but also the doctors. And don’t think that the government doctors will not be affected!  “The current Govt Hospitals and Health Clinics will be given autonomy and will operate like private entities” is again clearly stated. This means that government hospitals and KKs will eventually be corporatised and will decide on their own how many doctors they will employ/pay! Probably, this is the reason why government is increasing the salary as a prelude to corporatosation. All doctors will eventually work on contract basis under corporate companies.

The same will very soon happen to the doctors. I am still hearing a lot of people telling me that doctors will never become jobless. To be frank, there is nothing special about being a doctor. No government promises everyone a job! The government never asked you to become a doctor and thus you cannot blame the government. That’s the reason the government also issued a moratorium for medical schools last year but it is just too late! 36 medical schools for a population of 27 million with almost 40+ medical programmes ( some schools has up to 4 concurrent programmes). We should be in Guinness World Book of Records for having the highest number of medical schools per capita population and the country with the fastest growing medical schools in the world( 28 medical schools in 12 years)!! Malaysia boleh mah………….

The situation of medical graduates is more complicated than any other profession. If you do not get a post for housemanship, you will never be able to work as a doctor. Of course, not forgetting the amount of money that you spend to become a doctor and the fact that if you don’t get a job here, you can’t just apply to any other country as your degree is not recognised anywhere else, something peculiar to the field of medicine.

Jobs in nursing hard to come by for graduates

PETALING JAYA: It is difficult not only for diploma graduates but also degree-holders to get a job in nursing.

Some have ended up becoming insurance agents, tuition teachers and sales assistants while others are involved in part-time businesses as they wait for a nursing vacancy to open.

Hartini Haron, 25, from Sabah, said she graduated one-and-a-half years ago with a nursing degree from a public university but had yet to get a job in the field even though she had sent in “countless” applications.

“I am disappointed with the whole situation. We studied for four years and now, we can’t even get a job,” she said.

A few of her friends got a nursing job almost a year after completing their studies, said Hartini, who does whatever part-time work that she can get.

Hartini said new graduates with no working experience as a nurse found it tough competing with graduate nurses who had working experience.

Nurses from the Health Ministry who continued their studies for a degree were easily absorbed into the system, she added.

Another public university nursing graduate, Khairun Nisa Mohammad, 25, from Ampang said she received an offer from a private hospital after nine months of unemployment.

“The Government must provide job opportunities. If not, why did they provide nursing courses?” she asked, adding that only one of her course mates got a job as a lecturer with the Health Ministry.

Before getting her current job, Khairun Nisa said she worked as an assistant merchandiser.

“Some of my Chinese friends have become nurses in Singapore,” she said.

She said only two of her 30-odd classmates got jobs as nursing lecturers with the Health Ministry while the rest had not been able to get a nursing job and worked as sales assistants, insurance agents and tuition teachers.

Sofia Yusof, 25, who completed her nursing degree in July 2010, said she accepted a nursing job in March last year at a private hospital in Johor but was being paid according to the salary scale for diploma holders She added that she could not get a nursing job via the Public Services Commission.

“I have to support my parents who are old and pay for my study and car loans,” she said.

Another graduate who wanted to be known only as Nooraniza, 25, from Johor, said she had sent her applications to the commission, but there was no vacancy at the moment.

Desperate for a job, she accepted a nursing job at a private hospital which was only willing to pay a “diploma scheme” salary.

“I took up the job because I didn’t want to burden my father,” said Nooraniza, whose father is a crane driver.

S. Gnanapragasam, 62, said his 22-year-old daughter and several of his friends’ children were having difficulty getting nursing jobs after completing their diploma courses.

He added: “They spent several years studying and in the end, they are struggling to find jobs. My daughter finally found a job but she is not doing what she was trained to do.”

Nursing job woes cut deep

KUALA LUMPUR: Private nursing students are in a pickle with many struggling to find jobs after passing their exams.

According to a Government study, more than 54% of the private nursing diploma graduates could not find a job three to four months after graduating in 2010, compared to only 21.7% in 2008.

A total of 37,702 students were enrolled in nursing diploma courses in 61 private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) in 2010.

As of Dec 2010, the total number of trained working nurses in the country stood at 61,110, with 21,118 working in the private sector.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar said the party had received many complaints from parents and graduates who could not find a job even after a few years.

He called for a freeze on the intake of new nursing students in private institutions until existing graduates secure jobs.

Jeyakumar said there were graduates who ended up working as receptionists or store clerks.

“With 37,500 students enrolled, we are looking at an average of 12,000 students graduating a year. The need for new nurses in the private sector is only about 1,500 a year, as only 5% to 10% of those working in the private sector will leave their existing jobs.

“It is also not easy for private graduates to get a job in the Government as only 438 IPTS nursing diploma graduates served with the Health Ministry in 2010,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

On average, a three-year nursing diploma programme at an IPTS would cost about RM50,000. Most IPTS offer full PTPTN loans to their nursing students.

Dr Jeyakumar called on the Government to absorb the loans for those who could not find jobs within a year of passing their Nursing Board exams.

He added that private institutions, whose students had low pass rates in the Nursing Board exams, should not be allowed to offer medical courses.

Government statistics showed that the number of graduates who took the Nursing Board examinations had increased from 4,025 in 2008 to 7,665 in 2010.

However, the pass percentage had fallen from 86.5% to 70.1% during the same period. Those studying in public institutions of higher learning had a pass rate of between 94% and 99%.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin had announced a moratorium on new nursing schools in 2010.

Finally, I manage to get a locum cover for Chinese New Year 2012. It was the best time to cross the causeway without any traffic. Thus, I decided to bring my family for a short entertainment across the causeway on the first day of CNY.

For those who can’t remember, Universal Studio was supposed to be in Nusajaya, Malaysia initially. Way back in the year 2000, Universal studio was already in talks with Malaysian authority to build a theme park in Nusajaya. I personally saw the MBJB master plan in the year 2000. However, some how it did not get throu’ and I am not sure why. We have a bigger and cheaper land than Singapore. I feel it must be the bureaucracy, rules and regulation that put them off. Finally we had to turn to Legoland which will open its door in June 2012 in Nusajaya.

Unfortunately, it was Singapore who benefitted. Surprisingly, Universal Studio Singapore belongs to Genting Berhad which is a Malaysian company!! How ironic!

The best ride was this:

I must say it lives up to its name as the world’s first Transformers ride. A virtual 3D action where you feel like you are in the movie! I would recommend this to anyone who visit Universal Studio Singapore.

The rest of the rides were awesome as well. The cyclone roller coaster was really scary. Lucky I do not have any cardiac disease yet. Felt like I was flying 14 storeys high

It was exhausting I must say. I spend almost the whole day from 10am to 7.30pm walking and taking rides with my kids/wife etc.

Despite that, I could not finish all the attractions in the park. The Mummy indoor roller coaster with visual effects was also excellent.

After all these tiring rides, the best part was when I could drive back to my house in JB in less than an hour !! NO JAM at all…………………………….

Looking forward for another visit in a year’s time.

Didn’t I say this almost 2 years ago? http://pagalavan.com/2010/04/27/no-more-nursing-schools-from-july/. The government stopped new nursing colleges from July 2010 onwards but this was what I said then:

 ”It is good that the government is going to stop new nursing colleges but will this solve the problem? The existing nursing colleges itself are producing thousands of nurses of doubtful quality and they will keep producing them to get profit. So the number of new nurses will continue to be produced by these colleges, or may even increase! Even now, there are fresh nurses who are unable to find a job as the government service seem to be saturated with them.”

This was 2 years ago and now, the article below written by Dr Jeyakumar clearly illustrates the current situation. I predicted this to happen and it is happening. The number of application for nursing job in my hospital is piling up day by day. Many of them are totally below par in quality and not even employable. I was made to understand that you just need 1 credit in SPM to be eligible to do nursing!! You don’t need to pay anything as the college will apply for PTPTN loan for you. And woolah, you will do the course for free and become unemployed later. Who cares about job prospects as the college has already made the money.

The same situation is also happening for radiographers, physiotherapist and pharmacy dispensers. All these private colleges are recruiting students into this courses by giving false information that there is severe shortage. Obviously the Ministry of Higher Education is sleeping or not bothered at all as we are “education hub” , mah…………

What’s next? Unemployed doctors……………………… the same scenario is already happening for medicine and thus the “so-called” moratorium of medical schools last year. BUT every medical college ( 36 of them) seem to be increasing the number of intake year by year, even introducing newer twining programmes. Housemanship is now given on contract basis and I can see some shocking news waiting for them when they finish housemanship in 2 years time.

Thousands of private college nursing grads jobless — Jeyakumar Devaraj

January 14, 2012

As I have said before, litigation rate is going up everywhere especially in Klang Valley and cases like this are going to increase day by day. As doctors, we should be very careful with what we do. Make sure that we have a chaperone every time in our room or while you are examining a female patient. I am not sure what actually happened in the case below but I presume that he did a pelvic examination on this pregnant patient without first informing the patient and without a chaperone. If they have charged him in court means that the police has found enough evidence.

The government has already advised all government doctors to take their own medical indemnity insurance. It may be made compulsory soon. I will also advise female doctors to have a chaperone when examining a male patient. Vice versa can also happen !!

Doc charged with molesting pregnant patient

KUALA LUMPUR: An obstetrician has been charged at a magistrate’s court here with molesting his pregnant patient.

Dr Mohd Suhaidin Che Ngah, 36, claimed trial to using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a 27-year-old woman by touching her private parts at Hospital Sungai Buloh at 2.15pm on Nov 11 last year.

He seemed unfazed when the charges were read, even smiling throughout the hearing.

The offence, under Section 354 of the Penal Code, carries a maximum 10 years’ jail term or a fine or whipping, or any two such punishments, upon conviction.

DPP Nur Hidayah Raihan Md Nasir proposed bail at RM7,000.

However, Dr Mohd Suhaidin’s brother, who was his surety, sought a lower sum.

Magistrate Namirah Hanum Mohamad Albaki set bail at RM5,500 with one surety and fixed March 26 for mention.