Product Of The System

Saya Bukan Melayu.

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Saya bukan Melayu.

Saya bermata sepet dan berkulit kuning langsat. Hidung saya tidak muncung dan rambut saya tidak kerinting. Seimbas lalu, saya sememangnya bukan Melayu.

Akan tetapi, saya berdarah merah sekiranya dihiris dengan sebilah keris – sama seperti seorang Melayu. Seperti seorang anak Melayu, minda saya tidak terkecuali dari segi cita-cita dan impian masa hadapan. Sewaktu saya remaja dahulu, saya tidak malu menyanyi lagu KRU dan membeli tiket menghadiri konsert mereka.

Jadi, penting sangatkah seandainya saya bukan Melayu di negara Malaysia?

Saya bukan Muslim.

Saya tidak membaca kitab suci Al-Quran atau bertanding dengan kesesakan lalu lintas untuk menghadiri sembahyang Jumaat. Saya tiada emosi yang berbara berhubungan isu Palestin dan tidak benci akan orang Yahudi.

Namun, saya percaya pada Tuhan maha penyayang dan kewujudan neraka dan syurga. Saya juga amat mengambil berat isu kemiskinan dan kesihatan golongan yang miskin tidak kira umat atau kafir.

Jadi, adakah relevan sekiranya saya bukan Muslim dalam sebuah negara di mana Islam adalah agama rasmi?

Saya bukan bumiputera atau putera bumi.

Saya bukan yang pertama ataupun yang dahulu sampai di Gugusan Kepulauan Melayu. Salasilah keluarga saya juga tidak akan mendedahkan sebarang akar umbi yang mendalam di Tanah Melayu.

Kendatipun begitu, saya dilahirkan di sini dan begitu juga datuk dan nenek saya. Saya menganggap negara Malaysia sebagai tanah tumpahnya darah saya. Sepanjang tempoh perkhidmatan sebagai pegawai perubatan bawah Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia, saya telah berusaha dengan ikhlas untuk melayan setiap warga Malaysia dengan adil dan saksama.

Jadi, adakah munasabah segala persengketaan ini pasal ketuanan sesuatu kaum tertentu?

Saya bukan keturunan kerabat diraja.

Saya tidak dilahir dan dibesarkan dengan bahasa istana dan istilah istimewa yang berbunga-bunga. Saya tiada keris sakti di pinggul saya ataupun gelaran kehormat yang berlebar-lebar. Saya juga tidak kekebalan tomahan rakyat mahupun undang-undang kebangsaan.

Keluarga saya hanya rakyat biasa yang berkerja keras mencari sesuap makan dan dalam proses itu, menyumbang secara kecil-kecilan kepada ekonomi tanah air. Kami sekeluarga hanya inginkan kedamaian dan kelicinan dalam kehidupan seharian. Sejak kecil lagi, kami adik-beradik diingatkan setiap masa untuk beretika dalam segala urusan dan tindakan kami.

Jadi, jauhkah perbezaan kami keluarga biasa daripada keturunan diraja?

Bangkitlah Melayu!

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:37:00 +0000

Pada 15 April 2009, akhbar Utusan Malaysia dalam halaman utama telah menyeru rakyat Malaysia yang berbangsa Melayu untuk ‘bangkit dan bersatu dalam berhadapan dengan tuntutan kaum lain yang kini dilihat semakin keterlaluan’.

Sahabat sekalian yang berbangsa Melayu,

Bangkitlah daripada tidur lena anda selama 50 tahun kemerdekaan negara kita daripada jajahan British.

Nescaya selepas setengah abad bawah kepemimpinan UMNO, bangsa Melayu yang bijaksana mampu mengesan budaya penipuan dan omong-omong kosong kerajaan Barisan Nasional.

Sehingga bila negara Malaysia kita perlu berbau perkauman dalam semua aspek kehidupan kita sebagai rakyat biasa?

Rata-rata kita sebagai anak Malaysia sama ada Melayu, Cina, India atau Kadazandusunmurut adalah penyayang keamanan tanpa sebarang kepentingan politik.

Tanpa mengira warna kulit mahupun kepercayaan agama, kebanyakan kita sebagai rakyat biasa hanya berhasrat untuk membina keluarga masing-masing supaya anak-anak kita menjadi individu yang berakhlak dan berguna di dunia ini kelak.

Tiada sebarang kaum yang tengah berkomplot untuk menindas mana-mana komuniti yang lain.

Pendek kata, ahli-ahli politik Barisan Nasional yang diketuai UMNO telah mengeksploitasikan paranoia golongan Melayu untuk kepentingan diri dan kroni masing-masing.

Sampai bilakah warga Melayu rela dijerat dalam ugutan palsu ciptaan politikus hipokrit Barisan Nasional?

Daripada tanah air yang berpotensi dan kaya dengan sumber semula jadi dan bekalan tenaga manusia berbilang kaum yang berkaliber, negara Malaysia kini semakin tercemar dan tandus.

Negara Malaysia tercemar bukan hanya alam persekitaran fizikalnya malah dari segi kemasyarakatan di mana jenayah ganas semakin berleluasa dan gejala sosial semakin di luar kawalan.

Ibu pertiwi kita ketandusan bukan sahaja dari segi penyalahgunaan wang rakyat dan pembaziran sumber bumi tetapi juga dalam bentuk ‘brain drain’.

Sejak Mei 13 1969, Malaysia dianggarkan telah kehilangan sebanyak dua juta tenaga professional dan intelektual daripada semua kaum kepada negara asing di seberang Selat Tebrau.

Anak-anak Malaysia yang telah berhijrah ini tidak sama sekali patut dituduh sebagai penderhaka negara yang tiada semangat kenegaraan dan jati diri.

Sebagai pengerusi Pemuda UMNO pada tahun 1987, Perdana Menteri Najib Razak telah menyeru ahli-ahli UMNO untuk membasahkan keris dengan darah Cina.

Budaya mengugut dan melancarkan keganasan atas masyarakat minoriti Malaysia ini kian menjadi tradisi UMNO.

Pada tahun 2004-2005, perwakilan di perhimpunan agung tahunan UMNO telah berikrar untuk menonjolkan kewiraan Melayu jati dan bermandi darah menentang masyarakat bukan Melayu.

Kempen menabur perasaan benci dan curiga terhadap masyrakat bukan Melayu semakin hangat semenjak pilihan raya Mac 2008. Parti UMNO kerap kali menyebarkan desas-desus yang tidak berasas dengan tujuan UMNO akan sekali lagi menerima sokongan pengundi Melayu.

Warga Melayu Muslim yang ikhlas dan berpegang teguh kepada ajaran agama perlu bersatu, bangkit dan menolak ketagihan keganasan yang semakin menular dalam parti yang memperlihatkan dirinya sebagai penyelamat ugama, bangsa dan negara.

Sebab mengapakah masyarakat Melayu Malaysia terus bergantung pada Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) apabila bangsa Melayu secara semula jadi adalah bangsa yang gagah dan berbakat yang lebih daripada mampu untuk berjuang di persada antarabangsa?

Sejak 1970, DEB bukan sahaja gagal membanteras kemiskinan di negara kita tanpa mengira kaum malah telah meluaskan lagi jurang pendapatan dalam setiap komuniti masing-masing.

Melayu yang kaya dan berkepentingan politik dalam UMNO semakin berada dengan kontrak and tender lumayan manakala Melayu yang miskin semakin terdesak dalam kehidupan harian.

Cina yang berharta dengan talian MCA semakin meluas monopoli mereka sementara Cina yang berkeperluan terus dinafikan peluang walaupun hanya untuk menjadi empunya tanah kecil yang didiami bertahun-tahun di kampung-kampung baru tersusun.

Masyarakat bumiputera Sabah yang papa sejak turun temurun terus tertinggal dalam alaf baru tanpa akses kepada perkhidmatan kesihatan manakala ahli politik yang bernama Pairin dan Ongkili berjuang sesama diri untuk diberikan kuasa dan kedudukan yang lebih.

Sememangnya, DEB bukan sahaja gagal menjadi pemangkin mobiliti golongan miskin malah menjadi batu penghalang kepada pencapaian dan keupayaan Melayu sejagat.

Tanpa pertandingan terbuka yang sihat dan adil, anak-anak Melayu dari segenap lapisan masyarakat sama ada pelajar sekolah mahupun professor universiti semakin leka sebagai jaguh kampung tanpa sebarang motivasi dan tekanan untuk mencabar wilayah selain Tanah Melayu.

Seruan untuk membubarkan DEB daripada pelbagai pihak bukanlah untuk merencatkan pembangunan masyarakat Melayu sebaliknya menyediakan komuniti ini untuk menghadapi dunia pasca moden yang tiada sempadan.

Pembaziran aset nasional oleh perompak Barisan Nasional atas nama Dasar Ekonomi Baru ini tidak boleh berlanjutan lagi.

Ibu pertiwi kita bukanlah lombong minyak yang tidak terhad.

Sedarkah Melayu sekalian identiti Melayu bumiputera semakin dicabuli oleh opportunis yang hanya bergelar Melayu semata-mata kerana mereka mengidamkan hak-hak istimewa bumiputera?

Kaum India-Muslim mamak seperti menteri besar palsu Perak, Mohd Zambry Abdul Kadeer dan bekas Perdana Menteri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad bukan saja berlambak-lambak di dalam parti UMNO malah menerajui kedudukan yang berkuasa di peringkat negara.

Dalam keghairahan untuk terus berkuasa dan memperkaya diri dan kroni, UMNO tidak ragu-ragu menggadaikan identiti Melayu sejati.

Dari Selangor ke Sabah, warga Indonesia, Filipina dan Pakistan dikurniakan kad pengenalan Malaysia dan seterusnya mengisytiharkan diri masing-masing sebagai bumiputera Melayu pada hal mereka hanya berminat untuk menerima ‘hak-hak istimewa’ yang terkandung dalam Dasar Ekonomi Baru.

Saudara-saudari yang berbangsa Melayu,

Bangkitlah engkau untuk menentang mereka yang mencuri dan memperbodoh identiti Melayu dan bukan mereka yang berganding bahu untuk membangunkan ibu pertiwi kita.

Bangkitlah anda semua untuk mengusir mereka yang menyamar sebagai penyelamat umat Islam tetapi mengamalkan budaya dan aksi keganasan yang bertentangan dengan agama Islam.

Bangkitlah bersama-sama mereka yang meskipun kafir dan bukan bumiputera Melayu tetapi sayang akan negara Malaysia kita dan menggembleng tenaga untuk mewujudkan suatu negara Malaysia yang benar-benar adil, makmur dan saksama.

Seperti mana Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat berkata, “Kita semua adalah anak Adam”.

Sekian.

Ukrainian CPR, Russian Life Support and the Boris Yeltsin Classification of Heart Failure IV: Pak Abu Dies

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Pak Abu passed on today.

Take a guess why.

It’s all in the ABCs of basic resuscitation.

Someone did not ask for senior assistance when Pak Abu went into distress.

Someone forgot to clear the bloody secretions.

Someone did cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her own without addressing the ‘P’ of CPR.

Pak Abu survived open heart surgery.

Pak Abu pulled through a major abdominal surgery.

Pak Abu cheated death twice, the second time just barely.

Pak Abu worked hard his entire life to send his eldest son to study medicine in Monash, Australia.

His son will now graduate without a father by his side on graduation day.

Pak Abu was a great man in his own right but not great enough to survive that someone from CSMU.

That someone could have called for help but she didn’t.

Perhaps that is why there would be a funeral for Pak Abu tomorrow.

Rest in peace, Pak Abu.

See you at the crossroads.

Epilogue:
To my dear readers from the Russian and Ukrainian medical schools, this short article would have served its purpose if you are outraged after reading it. May your anger and rage be translated into a greater determination for self improvement as opposed to running down the critics and skeptics around you. I am speaking to myself as I write so.

God bless.

Education For The Illiterate And Enlightenment For The Uncivilised

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:29:00 +0000

A short rebuttal before my planned hiatus.

Wow, I never thought that my two truthful encounters with the Russia graduates would ignite such fiery responses and emotionally-charged hate mails.

It appears that the literacy rate among Malaysians is not as impressive as we thought, huh?

Now, way back in 2005, I wrote a lenghty article to the mainstream media and Malaysiakini lambasting the Malaysian Medical Council for abruptly derecognizing CSMU and consequently leaving the students (and parents) in limbo.

My salient points back then were plain and clear – our local medical graduates are not superior to the CSMU students and in fact clearly lacking in many aspects.

Therefore, those who only started reading this blog in the last one week would do well to search through the archive of articles in Malaysiakini for the year 2005 before accusing me of attaching a negative stigma on graduates from CSMU and Russia.

Four years have passed since the CSMU controversy in 2005 and now we are having the graduates put through the baptism of fire i.e housemanship.

The current batch of house officers is in their third month of housemanship.

They outnumber the local graduates in a ratio of 3:1. There are probably around 35 house officers from Ukraine and Russian universities. I am not sure of the exact figure because I am obviously not in charge of administration.

Have I met all of them? Obviously not.

Nevertheless, the chatter among the clinicians is similar – most of these medical graduates are lacking in competency and fall short of their minimal expectations.

Do note my persistent usage of the term ‘most’ and not ‘all’.

Also note my first post stating very clearly that the students / graduates themselves are not to be faulted.

Regardless, if I were a CSMU or Russian student / graduate, I will look at these criticisms not as insults but as a challenge to disprove the critics.

Thus far, the only one who responded in such a manner is him.

Essentially, I am speaking for myself to hear.

With all the doubts over the competency of local graduates, the onus is on the local graduates to prove themselves worthy of the degree conferred upon them, and this is not limited to a medical qualification.

In their unchecked anger and uncontrolled emotions, the illiterate and uncivilized have hurled very colorful verbal abuses upon me without realizing that these are acts that only serve to embarrass oneself.

I shall not stoop to your level and participate in your exercise in vanity.

Instead I shall rest tonight knowing that this blog has truly served its purpose – to expose that which is presumably wrong and await the ripple effect to other sites like the much acclaimed Malaysian Medical Resources.

May I be excused now if you don’t mind - my avocadoes are waiting for me in the blender.

Till we meet again.

You can continue cursing me now.

Signed,
POTS.

P/S: Dear Ken Lui, I have removed your name from the alleged impostor. The posting remains for the purpose of discussion. My humble apologies.

Lessons of A Lifetime: What I Have Learnt Recently

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:25:00 +0000

The butterfly effect does exist. My ‘little corner’ as one reader deemed it to be, is truly experiencing the ripple effect as I had anticipated and hoped for. The nay sayers told me off for writing an open letter to the Malaysian Health Minister yet it was carried forward from here to here and here. Like I said, perhaps, maybe, somehow, the nutrionist himself might end up reading about the sufferings of simple-minded Sabahans currently.

No one really gives a damn about Sabah. I have emailed many articles on the worsening healthcare crisis in Sabah to Lim Kit Siang, even sms-ing him to look into the matter. Thus far, the Pakatan Rakyat leaders are simply too obsessed with by-elections to glance over the South China Sea. Too bad, Sabahans – I’ve tried and failed.

Sarcasm is sometimes wasted on the wrong people, like one reader who actually thought I was at all serious about a non-existent Boris Yeltsin Classfication Of Heart Failure.

If one is mentally-challenged and fall short of words and rebuttal, one can always start insulting the opponent’s childhood, family, ancestry and intentions. Avoid the real issue at all costs.

Some people are blatantly uncreative and boring. They won’t even give themselves a pseudonym or nickname in their comments lambasting the writer. One does not have to be ashamed just because one’s name is JACK with the surname ASS.

One can be illiterate and still read medicine. The article on Pak Abu was written in simple and plain English, yet one reader can still accuse lil’ POTS of not doing anything for a soul in distress. How la, Malaysia?

The net monthly salary for a service medical officer is $4,550.00 (RM 10, 935.90) in Singapore, with annual bonuses depending on your performance in the year that has passed.

If you want to increase readership for your blog tremendously, write about Russians.

Even South Park has a mid-season break. It’s time for a short hiatus again. When one writes continuously about healthcare and healthscare, one loses perspective about life out of medicine. It's getting a bit boring. Between April and August, POTS will lie low, kill some ants and work on other projects instead, like mixing music and blending avocado. There will still be updates as and when something interesting pops into my wretched mind.

Until then, God bless.

Ukrainian CPR, Russian Life Support and the Boris Yeltsin Classification of Heart Failure III: The Insiders’ Revelation

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:11:00 +0000

For perhaps the first time since I started this ‘little corner’ of mine, I’m posting two articles that are not written by myself.

Medical students “Newly Circumcised” and “Moscow Medical Academy Student” would like to share their personal experience studying abroad.

May you lend the two of them a listening ear. I’m reposting their comment in a verbatim state.

Insider I: Newly Circumcised

With all these heated up debate bout CSMU, I guess its time someone from CSMU stands out n clarify things for real.

Firstly i want to prove to all the readers out there (esp CSMU students); I'm not an imposter who plans to destroy CSMU's image.

1) Last week we had Amazing Race Simferopol where all the stupid participants sang "Negaraku" in terrible falsetto voices all evening.

2) MSC president- Mayurran. MCA president- Baba.

3) See Choo is doing hair cuts at weekends at the 1st hostel 4th floor common hall.

4) All the hostel are located at - Rechnaya Street beside the Park Gagarina with the stupid Prom night poster now on 4th Hostel wall.

5) 5th hostel "kiosk" selling Samosa at 2.60 grivs.

CSMU students reading this will know I'm not an imposter.

I'm a "REAL" CSMU student.

Now lets begin with the main issue - why Ukrainian grads lack clinical knowledge?

The answers to this enigmatic question are-poor non-practical teaching systems n lazy, idoitic students.

Here's the details.

For clinical year students the schedule is 1 or 2 lectures a day with 1 class. Needless to say, the lectures r conducted by old Russian uncles or hags in Russian language, e.g Infectious Disease lecture which obviously are boring n totally USELESS.

Now, about the classes. In Malaysia classes r conducted as ward rounds where the clinical instructor n med students discuss, examine n perform clinical procedures together. In CSMU, the students go to hospitals too but everything else is TOTALLY different!!!
After reaching the hospitals, students will go to designated classrooms - so called " uchebnaya komnata". Then, the lecturer will come in, discuss about the tasks, make a break, continue discussion n the students will be free.

We don really get to examine patients because the patients are reluctant, n because the lecturers are lazy!

Why the patients are reluctant?

Because we're foreigners, we come from less civilized country, we're "DIRTIER".

Thus, in average for 1 cycle, students will only see 1 or 2 patients.

I really mean "SEE", most students just go to the patient, converse in broken Russian, make some short notes n that's all.

No clinical inspection, no careful analysis of lab results.

Even if there is, the clinical examination is "CINCAI".

Before the end of cycle, students will do case reports (case histories) which are actually "Copy n Paste" work of other reports. Worse still, we can "Make-up" any fake symptoms, lab results to fit the diagnosis. Cool ha?

What's way COOL is, sometimes we just take other peoples case reports, change the name of the patient n hand it to the lecturer.

U guys must be curious right-how come the lectures didn't notice it?

Of course they wouldn't know, because all the case reports ends up as "Free Toilet Papers" for the lecturers. Unless, they read while they're in the loo, how do u expect students to be competent when the system is so corrupted n vain?

2nd problem-the students themselves. Most students here are "EXTREMISTS".

Here's why.

Some are Extreme Religionists, all they do is sembahyang, attend Bhajans,go church services,Dharma classes. They would even skip classes to attend religious activities.

Some are Business Freaks. Instead of studying they waste time selling stuffs or services. Some sell Char Siew Pau, some Rojak, some Chicken Rice. Some work as "Flight Agents", Avon direct sales, manicure experts, barber n artists.

Then there is the Clubbing Maniacs. These bunch go to night clubs, dance, smoke, get drunk, fight with some Russian strangers. The hardcore ones take drugs e.g Marijuana n visit brothels. Yes. Some CSMU students r STD infected!!!

Another group - Rich Bastards. These people r the pampared, spoilt brats of rich Dato or Tan Sri. They'll play their PSP(Playsation Pocket) during lectures n classes. Download or watch movies, play PS or Nintendo wii at their rooms. There is virtually no academic conscience in them.

Luckily, there is-Kiasu Nerds. These students know of their incompetency - the result of the system. And are trying their best to improve themselves. They study Malaysian protocol books, watch n practice clinical examination methods e.g from Macleod or Talleys. But what they're doing is of limited value since real clinical skills come from hands-on experience not some video, or healthy friends to act as ill patients. Well,at least they put in effort to improve themselves.

Unfortunately though, they r the minority. They're being "Oppressed"! Students from other categories ridicule them, alienate them, some even criticize them; labelling them as nerds,geeks,No Life.

These people are good students STPM pointers 3.7-3.9. Some of them were neglected a course of their choice even with good results. Instead they were given courses like Aquaculture, Enviromental Science, Forestry which were not one of the 8 choices selected in the IPTA form.

I, myself, am a victim to the goverments so-called "Meritocracy" even with 3A1B n band 5 for my STP. Worse is our parents are tricked by the agents into sending us to study in Ukraine. They created wonderful yet obviously implausible lies like - it is the best uni in Ukraine, it is world recognized-u can work anywhere in the world with the degree. Feel sad for all the nerds, including myself.

If there really is a time machine, i would never, never, came to study here.

Well,I can only blame bad Karma.

About the students who come here on government funds.

Yes. It's true. They're Bumiputras on MARA or Yayasan scholarships.

How much? About USD 500 per month about 2500 grivens.That's quite a sum.

How do they spend these tax-payers money?

Easy.

Go to Euro-trips n buy whatever they like. I've witnessed them buying Prada shoes from France trip; MAN-U jersey,Nike boots from England trip. Some smoke, take drugs n frequent high class restaurants.

Some just use the extra to get married.

Yes. This is true. MARRIAGE. Imagine.

A pair of med-students with no income marrying.

Guess who's paying for the Kenduri n Euro-trip honeymoon costs?

After some sex the wife gets pregnant, gives birth in CSMU. The child is left at the nursery while parents attend lectures etc.

Guess who's paying for the nursery n baby stuffs?

As a conclusion, I sincerely hope the MMC will implement a qualifying exam for all students alike. Those who fail should be given a workshop or training period. I don't care even if i have to pay. Because i don't want to "kill" my future patients. And i request senior officers not to "stereotype" all CSMU graduates.

Not all are stupid like the Surya. If given proper guidance we can at least, i fervently believe doctors of satisfactory level.

After posting this, I'll probably be in "Extreme Danger".

Some macha would probably want to whack me for good now.

Luckily, I can defend myself with some tae-kwan-do.

Haiya!!!

Insider II: Moscow Medical Academy Student

Sad but true.

I am a medical student from Russia as well.

Best part is, i or rather WE did not choose to come here.

We are all scholars sent here by either JPA or MARA.

If you were to google "Moscow Medical Academy" it is ranked by UNESCO as the second best medic Uni in the world.

DO NOT be fooled by this. Cuz i was one who was fooled as well.

Only after i landed in Moscow did i know that "2nd best in the world" is specifically granted to the Russian Medium of this medical school.

We Malaysians are doing the English medium...& i must say it's an utter shame that the Government actually spent millions of tax payers money to send us all here to study medicine.

The teaching facilities/methods of the English medium here is way below par...way below that of a 3rd world country even.

Some classrooms here even resemble the ones we have in our kampungs in rural areas such as Sabah & Sarawak. (so much for sending us here all the way to Moscow to EXPERIENCE this!)

For your information, this so called Moscow Medical 'Academy' DOES NOT even have a campus to begin with. Classes are scattered all over Moscow. (eg:Klang,PJ,Subang,Kajang,etc.).

We students are forced to travel everyday via Metro, or by foot or bus to attend classes. Also, there are many a time when we would have traveled so far to attend classes only to be told once we've reached there that classed are canceled!

The Government could have spent the money more wisely to educate us all in M'sia/Singapore/India. We get paid almost USD700 per month which i believe is a huge amount of tax payers money.

However, i doubt we will bring back much knowledge to be able to help the patients back home.

While there are some of us who save & spend the money wisely due to the high cost of living here, there are a huge majority of private & sponsored students who come here juz to ENJOY.

FREQUENT Alcohol parties, weekend getaways, world tours, & shopping sprees are very common among students here.

The lifestyle of many Malaysians changes tremendously once they came here. They behave even worse than the "Mat Sallehs" here. Malaysian girls here for instance would walk around ever so skimpily leaving nothing to the imagination (even during winter!)

Watever happen to the MALAYSIAN CULTURE?

Many here have even lost their virginity at the young tender age of 18 or 19 simply because a guy or girl can walk in ever so easily into the rooms of the opposite sex. Believe it or not,we have heard SEX sounds even!

Many Malaysian medical students behave as though they have no self dignity or watsoeva. (However, they potray the best behaviour once they land in Malaysia like as though they are the best Malaysian angels...sadly, we all know their true colours when they are here in Moscow. HYPOCRITES!!!).

These Malaysians are surely to be huge dissapointments to their families as well as to the nation.Exams & studies are the LEAST priority/favourite of many who are here. I wonder why did some people choose to study medicine in the very 1st place.

Let me also give u an insight of the education system here. You want to know why the majority of Russian grads are so incompetent & useless?

Well,1st & foremost we can get away with cheating ever so easily during tests & exams. You may ask how. Many students here aren't bothered about being honest for themselves. Many juz merely do the bare minimum of studying & copy their friend's answers or directly from the books during tests/exams. These students fail to realise that they are only cheating themselves.

The one who helps with the cheating is also going to lose out in the end once he/she is out of medic school & into the real working world. Another method which works really well for the girls is simply to shed some crocodile TEARS during tests/exams & instantly the lecturer/tutor would grant her a mere PASS...it's still a pass u know (better than a fail). How is this fair to some students like me who slog day & night mugging & studying extremely hard with the simple intention of graduating as competent doctors?
After all, these cheaters would be graduating with a MD certificate as well & turn out to be the bad apples in the healthcare system in Malaysia & thus leading Senior Doctors to generalise & say that ALL Russian Grads are INCOMPETENT!

Does anyone have any idea how frustrating this is?

Many students who sit for exams/tests earlier would simply snap a photo of the different set of questions & answers & then distribute it to the rest of the students who have yet to sit for their exams.

How is this helping anyone? Can u even call this an EXAM?

Does it fit the definition of an exam?

So,can u imagine wat kind of Doctors we're producing here?

A bunch of cheaters, liars, & irresponsible future doctors! That's the TRUTH!

Now, no wonder countries like the UK refuse to accept Russian Medical grads for their Postgraduate courses.

Simply because we have never even sat for a PROPER exam per say throughout our 6years of study here.

Look at the UK universities/colleges, do they even allow any student of theirs to bring in PDA's, camera handphones, bags, books into the exam venue?

Do they allow any exam candidate to communicate with another fellow candidate once the question paper has been distributed?

Do students know the exact sample of questions & answers prior to the exams?

HELL NO! These only happen in good old Mother Russia!

So, Wake up people!!!

So, to those of you all who are planning to send any of your offsprings to Russia for a Medical Degree, please, im begging you, think again.

You're not only going to lose your money, but also perhaps the good name & dignity of your family.

This is merely an opinion of mine & not directed to insult, degrade or humiliate anyone. I believe there is nothing wrong in sharing my opinion.

POTS’s disclaimer: Posting the two testimonies above does not in any way imply that I agree wholeheartedly with the writers’ views. However, I sincerely applaud the two brave souls for having the courage to concede weaknesses when they are present and to go against the tide of mob rage.

Following the above post, medical student Ken Lui alleged that his identity was stolen by an impostor. I have removed the relevant details. The posting remains for discussion sake.

Career Guidance with P.O.T.S

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Aspiring doctor Joanne read my UMS posting and exclaimed:

Oh my god! I have just made my application to UMS! Can i know how long is the study duration fot medicine? How many years do i need to endure? XD

This is my humble reply.

Dear Joanne,

Thank you for reading and inspiring this post.

I apologise sincerely if I have inadvertently created a negative impression even before you are in University Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

The medical program in UMS is five years, just like all other local public universities.

The process of learning and training to be a medical doctor in UMS have gotten more difficult in the last one year due to the closure of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

I was told that medical students are now dispatched to Sandakan, Tawau and Kota Belud since some disciplines have shifted their services to the hospitals there.

Anyway, I think your best source of information should not be a socio-political blogger but someone who has gone through the UMS medical program.

Instead of enlightening you about the life of a medical student and doctor, I would instead advise you to think carefully before jumping into the medical bandwagon.

Be a doctor only if you are really interested in medicine and not because your parents are.

Asian families are still very stuck in the conventional thinking of going for professional careers if their children do well academically.

In all honesty, I think we need more smart and creative people outside the circle of medicine.

I might not have said this years ago when I just completed my STPM, but the truth is this – there’s a whole lot of interesting careers out there apart from medicine.

If you are artistic with an imaginative mind, you can always go into filmmaking and wildlife photography. You can produce photo essays for Time magazine or capture scenes of a honey bear enjoying a sunbath for the National Geographic Society. After all, we need to immortalize all these wonderful creatures of God in digital media before the China Chinese devour them all.

If you are into music, do consider a career in the genre of trance. You just might taste worldwide fame not unlike prominent deejays such as Chicane, Darude and Fatboy Slim. Stay out of jazz though. I find it super gay.

Medicine should very much be left to boring and bored souls like myself. Or maybe medicine turned me into a boring and bored person.

Shrug…

Oh yeah, don’t forget sports and athletics. I doubt Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Datuk Nicol David ever regretted choosing their career paths. Just don’t choose football and lawn bowling though. The first is reserved for mentally-challenged intravenous drug users while the second is just plain lame.

Just between you and me, I am constantly dreaming of the life that could have been if I were a professional skateboarder.

The food business is always lucrative and rewarding, even in times of economic crisis. I have already garnered enough capital to open up my very own aquaculture farm. I am still on the lookout for a potential UMNO crony since land is increasingly scarce and in high demand. Do consider the vegetarian food sector. You will be amazed how some people are willing to fork out ridiculous cash just to bite into a shrimp-looking tofu that tastes like, well, tofu.

Money is also abundant in share and currency trading. My cousins are driving fancy cars and feasting in vegetarian outlets way beyond my salary as a doctor, and they are not even vegetarians.

Of course, it’s not all about the money.

Sometimes it’s about the karma and divine retribution.

One can serve the church and God too. You would need a certain degree of vocal prowess and eloquence to thrive in the ministry. Success will come soon enough and it ain’t only in the form of heavenly treasures. Just don’t molest the altar boys and get caught doing so.

When all else fails, you can always go into Malaysian politics. If someone like Muhammad I-Speak-No-English Taib can amass millions without a useful academic qualification, so can you. There might be a window of opportunity in Bukit Lanjan soon. There, you can’t say I didn’t tell you so.

After this long winded reply, if you are still keen to do per rectal examinations for life as a medical doctor, I will still cheer you on and welcome you on board.

Rest assured if you are somehow not up to the mark in clinical practice, you can always join Dr. Rikki in the logistics of quality healthcare.

All the best.

Ukrainian CPR, Russian Life Support and the Boris Yeltsin Classification of Heart Failure II: The Reign of Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:15:00 +0000

I resuscitated another corpse today. By the grace of God, old Pak Abu was revived.

More than a successful resuscitation effort, it was a failed murder attempt.

The perpetrators behind the latest assassination plot were none other than our Malaysian medical graduates from Russia.

I was only a nonchalant passer-by.

Drama and blood and gore were the last things on my mind.

Yet the sight of a soul in distress was inescapable.

Some people have an uncanny the ability of selective vision to ignore that which is unpleasant to the eyes.

I unfortunately do not possess such a gift.

If I come across a man (or woman) gasping for breath trying to remain alive with the little air they can inhale, I can’t turn around and pretend I see no evil.

Now Pak Abu was obviously struggling to breathe, so much so that he was already unconscious and cyanosed with no heart beat.

I caught the first house officer and made a very quick enquiry about Pak Abu.

“Oh, he’s just sleeping,” was her reply.

It was then that I flipped and threw a fit – a memorable, record-breaking grand mal seizure even by my own standards.

“THE PATIENT IS NOT SLEEPING! HE IS DYING!” I snapped, throwing the house officer into a state of panic and disarray.

Any human being with a minimal amount of common sense could have come to the conclusion that Pak Abu was in critical condition.

I supposed that was why his Filipino caretaker stood by and did budge not an inch away from Pak Abu.

While the staff nurses and doctors left Pak Abu to die miserably, Aminah the Filipino illegal immigrant with no skilled training or formal education did the most sensible thing she could think of.

It was also the only thing she could do in the absence of assistance and professional help.

She pumped precious oxygen into his failing lungs while the Russia graduates left Pak Abu to rot.

Aminah is paid RM 60 per day. That’s RM 2.50 per hour for twenty four hours of cleaning and feeding and diaper-changing with no designated lunch time or off-days in between.

In contrast, a house officer educated for six years in a Russian medical school earns RM 4800 per month, excluding food and on-call allowances.

In the process of a rowdy resuscitation – somewhere in between 1 m of adrenaline and 360 Joules of defibrillation, I grilled the three irresponsible and blatantly negligent house officers one by one.

They did not know the basic A, B, Cs of resuscitation.

They have no inkling what an oxygen face mask is.

They have never performed chest physiotherapy and suction before.

They couldn’t tell a Ryle’s tube from an endotracheal airway or even plaster the latter decently in place.

Sometimes these Russia and Ukraine graduates give answers that can really leave one stumped in disbelief and a locked open jaw.

Do Russians turn blue and stiff and icy cold with no heart activity in sweet slumber?

Do Ukrainians have a normal blood pH of 7.28?

The list goes on.

Very bluntly, it’s a serious issue of aptitude and attitude or rather, the lack of both.

They are a living testimony to the rotten state the Malaysian Medical Council has put us all in.

How many more must suffer and die before they put in place a mechanism of evaluating the competency of trainee doctors?

As it is already, irresponsible and dubious doctors are commonplace in the system.

The disciplinary action and remedial steps however are few and far in between.

The end-of-posting assessments, log books, annual SKT appraisal and incident reporting are nothing but an exercise in vanity.

Anyway, I visited Pak Abu today.

He gave me a reassuring nod of wellness.

Here is one soul that successfully slipped away from the Russians.

How many failed to?

Ukrainian CPR, Russian Life Support and the Boris Yeltsin Classification of Heart Failure

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:55:00 +0000

I resuscitated a corpse today. Needless to say, I failed.

Ukrainian CPR, Russian Life Support and the Boris Yeltsin Classification of Heart Failure

I resuscitated a corpse today. Needless to say, I failed.

I pumped air and fluids and drugs into a man who was already dead.

Ahmad (not his real name) was stiff as a log by the time I was referred to him, more of a cadaver than a human being in distress.

It was not difficult to see why.

The first house officer was breaking his ribs instead of pumping his heart.

His counterpart had no experience in setting an intravenous cannula ever before.

The third of the trio simply stood by – an idle spectator in the midst of chaos. He should have brought some popcorn with him instead of a stethoscope.

The three had one thing in common – they graduated from medical schools in Ukraine and Russia.

I don’t blame the house officers for the patient’s death.

I blame the deceitftul agents that lured parents into parting with their hard-earned money to pay for a medical education in Russia and Ukraine.

I blame Malaysian parents for coercing and sometimes forcing their offspring to pursue a medical degree despite clear suggestions that their children might not make successful doctors.

I blame the universities that make Malaysian students labor for six years in a foreign land learning a foreign language only to end up as clueless, incompetent quasi-doctors.

I blame the Malaysian Medical Council who for reasons best known to them, accorded unconditional recognition to institutions that are way below par.

I blame the healthcare authorities for allowing half-baked medical graduates to roam about causing immeasurable harm and untold horror.

I blame the public for creating and perpetuating this erroneous impression that the medical profession is highly lucrative and glamorous.

Regular followers of national events will recall the controversy surrounding Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) back in June 2005 where the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) decided to abruptly derecognize the medical school.

This was done so despite earlier recognition and accreditation by the Malaysian Ministry of Education.

Worse, some of the CSMU students were actually government scholars sent over there on tax payer’s money.

After many unruly and loud parliamentary debates, during which a deputy minister was suspended and a barrage of racist remarks were fired by Nazri Aziz, all students already in CSMU then were finally allowed to practice medicine in Malaysia upon graduation.

The flip-flop decision by the Malaysian Medical Council has proven to be a very costly mistake.

At present, hundreds of medical graduates from Russian and Ukrainian universities especially CSMU are out without a leash in our government hospitals.

Most of them don’t know pharmacology or physiology.

Most can’t perform simple clinical procedures like urinary catheterization and intravenous cannulation.

Most can’t deliver acute care to a patient in distress.

They are not well-versed with common medical terms and classifications.

In short, they are a different breed altogether.

The Malaysian Medical Council should be ashamed of itself.

So should all the politicians who campaigned fiercely for unconditional recognition of the CSMU graduates back in 2005 without first understanding the issue in depth.

The MMC should have stuck to its guns and derecognized CSMU if it truly believed in the provision of a safe and sensible healthcare. These graduates from Ukraine and Russia could have been given a grace period of retraining under close observation.

If they prove to be incompetent and fail to meet the minimal standards, they could have been retired from service. It’s how the rules of employment work in most parts of the world.

Instead, they were made instant doctors.

In the process, ill patients were made into instant victims.

What we need urgently now is a way to address these obvious shortcomings among these house officers before they become medical officers and make lethal and illogical decisions.

This is by no means an irrational stigma or witchhunt.

Medical graduates from local universities should not be spared as well.

I am not blindly biased in favor of local graduates for which I am one myself.

Bottomline is this: Malaysians deserve to demand proper healthcare from the government they elected.

It’s not too much to ask, or is it?

It Doesn't Mean A Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Seriously, it doesn't matter.

It doesn’t matter if you were Malay, Indian or Chinese or Kadazandusun, we all bleed red.

It doesn’t matter if you were as charming as Megan Fox or just better-looking than Shrek, age catches up with us all and death will soon beckon.

It doesn’t matter if you had millions of ill-gotten gains stashed away in a Swiss bank or just some meager loose change in your jeans pocket, we brought nothing into this world and can bring nothing out of it.

It doesn’t matter if you were born with so-called royal blood or raised without education in the slums, no human should be immune from valid criticisms and the rightful course of law.

It doesn’t matter if you were an avid follower of the sarcasm in South Park or a long-time Star Wars loyalist, Indiana Jones 4 sucked big time and will leave a bitter, disappointing aftertaste.

It doesn’t matter if you were a pious Seventh Day Adventist or just a really likeable liberalist-atheist, bak kut teh tastes damn good and that’s final.

It doesn’t matter if you were an extreme skateboarder or a bed-bound cripple, you are pretty screwed if that Russian house officer did not replace your foreskin after inserting a urinary catheter.

It doesn’t matter if you adore animals and hate the Jews, grief hurts and cuts very deeply indeed.

It doesn’t matter if you were a born loser in love or the lame winner of Akademi Fantasia, cats are cats and to them you are just human.

It doesn’t matter if you were an anonymous blogger with an open identity or a loudmouth politician with deep, dark secrets, the truth will prevail sooner or later.

It doesn’t matter if you were the son of a former racist prime minister or a dead Mongolian beauty blown into shreds, the Lord God will judge us all.

It doesn’t matter if you were a closet pedophile serving the Catholic Pope or a reluctant jihadist stranded in the tumultuous Middle East, Jesus loves you and I am trying to too.

A Government From The Cronies, By the Cronies, For the Cronies

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:14:00 +0000

Let’s all be reminded of a simple fact of Malaysian existence.

If you are rich and powerful, you would not seek treatment at the government hospital. You would not spend hours waiting to be at the Emergency Department only be yelled at by some overworked, underpaid medical officer or medical assistant.

If you are poor and downtrodden however, you have little choice and the nearest government hospital is about the only place you can receive medical services, even if the hospital is located two and a half hours away.

When was the last time anyone reads about an ailing BN minister or sick ‘royalty’ seeking treatment in a government center?

It’s always some top research center in Australia or USA or at the very least Singapore down south.

It's never Klang Hospital, Sungai Petani Hospital or Kota Marudu Hospital.

The ordinary citizens, the very people who placed these BN politicians in power and prosperity are the ones left to suffer the public healthcare system.

Barisan Najis seems determined to make money for themselves or their cronies at every available opportunity in every possible situation.

The photo above shows the prices of goods sold in a privately-owned koperasi in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

If one bothers to compare the prices shown above to the prices at a friendly neighborhood sundry shop, one will notice the markedly elevated prices in a government hospital.

When one rents a spot in a public hospital, business is virtually assured.

Simple folks from all over the state are forced to shelter in an institution distant from their point of origin and this is especially true in Sabah – where patients are referred from districts as far as Lawas, Sandakan and Ranau.

Selling goods (and food) at overinflated prices is nothing less than evil, no different from the so-called amalan riba so condemned in the Muslim faith.

We are dealing with people who are impoverished and desperate.

I have had patients applying for social welfare aid just to get home because they could not afford the RM 15 bus fare back to Lahad Datu.

For folks such as these, every cent saved is a cent earned that goes a long way towards their survival.

Yet, the hospital has allowed a crony to indulge in unreasonable profiteering for years now!

To the authorities concerned, please do the right thing – regulate your damn cronies now!

Four Braindrains And A Rotting Driftwood

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Farewell, my dear friends. I know you will excel as immigrants once again...

SMS message from POTS:
So how are your Lion City plans? Any progress?

Reply from Dr. Bee:
On-going. Now waiting for contract n registration with Singapore Medical Council. Most likely will leave by end of June. Join us.

Come July, Malaysia will lose four very capable, talented and diligent doctors.

Dr. Aye, Dr. Bee, Dr. See and Dr. Dee are four medical officers who have served the people of Sabah to the best of their ability.

Despite proving their worth and passing the preliminary stages of their external exams, they have been denied an opportunity to pursue further training in the specialty of their interest.

“Be patient,” Dr. Aye and Dr. See were told.

With the sudden extension of housemanship to two years, there was seemingly nobody to replace them in the districts of Sabah till 2010 and even then, there is no assurance that they will be transferred to a proper training center.

“Be understanding,” Dr. Dee was told.

Despite fulfilling his years of service in Sabah, Dr. Dee was denied a transfer back to his hometown in Peninsular Malaysia. The state of Sabah is supposedly facing a healthcare crisis of immeasurable severity and all transfers back to Peninsular Malaysia are frozen indefinitely.

Strangely though, the local and national news agencies are virtually hushed on this matter of political interest. As the saying goes, their silence is deafening.

“We will not stop you from resigning,” Dr Bee was told.

The Malaysian Ministry of Health demonstrates its stupidity and ignorance with words such as these.

It goes to great length to preserve rotting driftwoods like Dr. Rikki but has no qualms practically pushing astute clinicians across the Tebrau straits.

Our bright and enlightened neighbours at the south cannot be faulted for jumping at the opportunity to welcome and receive these four Malaysian ‘rejects’.

The unwanted citizens of one racist nation become the priceless assets of a capitalist city.

They are not the first and certainly won’t be the last.

My four dear friends, I wish you all the utmost and the best in your future undertakings.

I know you will all excel in all that you pursue.

And yes, I do envy your freedom and liberation from idiocracy like the SKT and SLAB programs.

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Kota Marudu, Sunday. The Land Beneath the Winds is set to tap into the lucrative health tourism industry. If realized, the inaugural project would generate an estimated revenue of RM 67.69 million for the state in 2009.

Healthscare and Nutrition Minister Datuk Liow Tong Lai made the announcement after an unannounced visit to the Kota Marudu Hospital here on Sunday.

“I have seen with my own eyes the potential that Sabah offers in terms of healthscare services. The medical and surgical care here is unprecedented and unique. There is no other way to describe it. Sabah healthscare is genuinely of international standard and on par with Zimbabwe and Somalia,” Datuk Liow said.

Future director of the state healthscare department, Dr Rikki agreed wholeheartedly.

“Datuk Liow has indeed seen with his own eyes. We have Burmese surgeons and Iraqi physicians, Russian house officers and lots of Filipino patients. No other state hospital can claim to be more international than us,” Dr. Rikki added.

The Healthscare Ministry in Kuala Lumpur has appointed Kinabatangan MP Dung Mokhtar to oversee the implementation of the pioneer Sabah State Tourism Project.

“Like the Healthscare Minister, I not only saw with my own eyes but have analysed the situation in Sabah as well. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Kota Marudu Hospital will be ideal for this project,” Dung explained.

Details of the various packages up for offer are yet to be finalized.

For accommodation, potential clients can choose between the standard rusted bed and the more economical makeshift canvass bed.

To enjoy greater camaraderie, patients can opt for the backroom where the space between two beds is a mere 30 centimetres.

“You can hear your neighbour’s fart and even smell it. If you have TB and are coughing your lungs out, the neighbouring bed can rescue that precious pulmonary tissue,” a medically-enlightened Dung elaborated.

Meals served in the health tourism project will display strictly Malaysian flavors. Breakfast comprises sliced bread and plain water. Lunch and dinner will be pure porridge served with boiled fish or steamed chicken.

“With such mouth-watering servings, I am sure that the ill and debilitated will recover in no time and once again be in state of a positive nitrogen balance,” Dung added.

Dung Mokhtar brushed aside concerns regarding the welfare of patients’ caretakers and next-of-kin.

“They can sleep on the floor and the many benches around the hospital if they want. We will not stop them,” Dung promised.

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Kota Kinabalu, Friday. The solitary lift in the remaining block of Kota Kinabalu’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital broke down for the second time in as many weeks.

State leaders from both government and opposition parties are uncannily silent on what appears to be the beginning of recurrent catastrophes to befall the state’s only referral hospital.

As wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, food and dirty laundry are carried manually to the respective floors, local Sabahans are declaring a reason for celebration as they stomped in style into the Bolehland Book Of Boleh Records.

The seven natives – all BN voters – carried a grand total of thirteen patients between 8 am and 5 pm on Friday, March 6th 2009.

The hospital director was not immediately available for comment as she is still attending the Annual Sabah Family Planning Workshop accompanied by her eleven children.

Chief minister Musa Saman promises swift repairs and the import of Pakistani spare parts. He will do so as soon as he is discharged from the first class ward of Sabah Medical Center for a mini ulcer on the tip of his left little finger.

Healthscare Minister Liow Tong Lai urges calm and restrain from the public in view of such unforeseen circumstances, just as what had happened a week ago.

“The Healthscare Ministry places the health of Sabahans at the top of our priority list. While awaiting quotations from UMNO rent-seekers, we will compensate our East Malaysian fellow citizens with better nutrition and higher calories. From this moment, we shall provide our Sabahan patients with two 1.5 cm chicken meat instead of the usual single slice measuring 3 cm in greatest diameter,” said Datuk Liow.

A member of the public who only wished to be identified as Anu Bah applauds the Healtscare Ministry.

“Sabahans will remain calm and composed, just as we were when UMNO hijacked our state through political defections,” Anu Bah said.

Dr. Rikki II: The Rise of Driftwood

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:37:00 +0000

A sense of déjà vu came over me. The hunched figure with a greying crown seemed so familiar.

The furrows on his forehead were like anyone else’s but somehow extraordinary for some reason.

Was he an ill patient that I once treated and have now recovered to full health?

Perhaps he was just another Sabahan with common features of a limited gene pool.

Dr. Rikki II: The Rise of Driftwood

It wasn’t the best time to be distracted.

The patient was severely ill and on her way for a brain scan in the Sabah Medical Center. Her vital signs were just barely acceptable and would require my close and total attention for the next hour or so. It is never easy to be jolted out of more secure environment in the ward and into an ill-equipped Malaysian ambulance.

Yet the face that I just glanced at in a flash refused to depart from the corner of my mind.

A sense of déjà vu came over me. The hunched figure with a greying crown seemed so familiar.

The furrows on his forehead were like anyone else’s but somehow extraordinary for some reason.

Was he an ill patient that I once treated and have now recovered to full health?

Perhaps he was just another Sabahan with common features of a limited gene pool.

I’m sure he was more than that. I am quite sure that at one point of my life I was by choice or by force, interacting with this native patriarch on a regular basis.

Something about him must have left a deep, lasting impression in me way back then.

I tried to attach a name to the face and maybe place the person in a regular environment.

An attire of some sort might help. So will a tie, a lab coat and maybe a stethoscope too.

The image seems complete now, except for a voice and some movements.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting… Dr. Rikki?

Dr. Rikki?

The 46-year-old house officer?

The prince of the soil who lived off a MARA medical scholarship for ten years only to return as a ward jester starting 2 mls of Ryle’s tube feeding and one pint of third generation cephalosporin for maintenance fluid?

What the heck is he doing back in the hospital?

Wasn’t he sent to an apex university somewhere in Kelantan to repeat his final year of medical school?

He passed?

He passed!

He passed and he’s back!

I met Dr. Rikki again a few days later. Very casually, we exchanged greetings and I enquired about his current posting.

“Oh, I decided I didn’t like clinical medicine. I’m in management now - Quality Assurance Unit in the state health department.”

Had I not been on flat ground, I would have fallen back in utter disbelief and absolute astonishment.

I am not against providing a lifeline for doctors who are incompetent in clinical practice.

One has to feed a family, and Dr. Rikki is no exception.

If my ageing brain has not failed me, Dr. Rikki could hardly spell ‘A-O-R-T-A’ to refer a patient with severe chest pain.

So pray, tell, how on earth can anyone with minimal command of the English language be placed in administration and specifically one that implements quality control measures?

Is it any wonder Sabah is perpetually in such dire straits?

POTS's Calendar 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Events to Anticipate in 2009:
- 7th of April: Bukit Gantang by-election (PAS will win handsomely!)
- June 24th: Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen
- Mid August: a chance to push my career further
- Early September: A flight back home
- ??? : The much-delayed KLSE meltdown
- End of November: A much needed beach holiday

Events to Despise in 2009:
- 24-28th March: UMNO general assembly and the customary keris-wielding moronic antics
- April Fool’s Day: The ascension of Najis Altantuya Razak as Malaysian prime pimpster
- May 30 & 31st: Pesta Ka’amatan and the aftermath of alcoholic orgies
- Mid June: Stupid, stupid, really stoopid PTK exam
- Late August: the verdict on my career advancement plans
- Dec 25th: Christmas day and the aftermath of alcoholic orgies again

How To Overcome A Healthcare Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:32:00 +0000

We can be naive idealists or corrupted capitalists. Or we can simply be radical realists.

How To Overcome A Healthcare Crisis

The UMNO Practice
Use money and make money. Use the billions of national reserve to profit UMNO-associated cronies. Install portable toilets for thousands of ringgit in the ‘unstable’ Queen Elizabeth Hospital only to vacate and totally abandon the building a few months later. ‘Buy services’ of CT and MRI scanning in a private hospital. Spend RM 90,000 per day to rent sections of an UMNO-associated private hospital. Pay half a million per month to ferry hospital workers to and fro the many “specialized” hospitals in the state i.e Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Likas Hospital, Bukit Padang Hospital and of course the Sabah Medical Center.

Do things half heartedly. Offer a piece of land in far, far away Kinarut to build a new hospital. Make the people from all over Sabah pay three times more traveling for half a day through the mountainous roads. Develop the chief minister’s land around the site.

Sweep everything under the carpet. Prohibit the press from exposing the sufferings of the common people. Hush critics and demonize them in public. Bury one’s head under the sand and hope a new hospital will just spring up on its own.

The Ideal Method
Scrape all stupid white elephant projects like the bloody Angkasawan Negara.

Reallocate funds to build a new and adequate hospital.

Select the best contractor through an open tender system.

Build the damn hospital and make sure it’s done within a stipulated time.

The P.O.T.S Suggestion
Reclaim any one of Kota Kinabalu’s overbuilt shopping complexes in the name of public interest. I personally prefer KK Times Square over Donggongon’s Megalong or Suria Sabah. Heck, we can even reclaim the useless UMNO headquarters in Kota Kinabalu.

Convert these non-beneficial commercial projects into a functional hospital.
Appoint China’s Health Minister as advisor for coordination of construction.
Award the construction project to the builders of Xiaotangshan Hospital as the major contractor.

Gather the 1.5 million Filipinos, Indonesians, Timorese and Pakistanis from all over Sabah who have been receiving free medical services for half a century now.
Entrust PAS’ Unit Amal to keep watch over these overnight bumiputeras while they build the new hospital, making sure these Project IC citizens don’t pinch the cement and metal for their kongsi and settlements.

Send the construction bill to Liow Tong Lai and Musa Aman.

Sell back Likas Hospital to Sabah Medical Center. Regroup all disciplines under one roof, and that includes psychiatric services.

Send the Malaysian Healthscare Minister into early retirement.

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Kota Kinabalu, Thursday. The lift in the remaining functioning block of the embattled Queen Elizabeth Hospital broke down for the fifth consecutive day. It is the latest misfortune to befall the capital city’s only referral hospital.

Healthcare services are currently at a virtual standstill as transportation of essential hospital equipment and ill patients came to a grinding halt.

A brief survey by Daily P.O.T.S Express found oxygen tanks, food, wheelchairs and transport trolleys littered and stranded in their respective floors.

“This is totally unacceptable. It is medical negligence and implicit murder by the Ministry of Health,” a wheelchair remarked on condition of anonymity.

An oxygen tank lambasted the health authorities as well.

“Unlike nutritionists and administrative staff masquerading as doctors, I actually earn my keep in my daily job saving lives and reducing morbidity. If I had limbs like humans, I will be the first to rush upstairs to save Mr. Wong who is in dire need of oxygen,” the 5-footer oxygen tank said.

There were very few kind words from other hospital citizens.

“I am unclean and less than hygienic. I am full of foul-smelling, dark green stools that stinks anyone with a functioning olfactory bulb. I should be transported in enclosed trolleys and not on the back of humans. This is supposed to be the new millennium, not the feudal ages,” said a visibly irritated Soiled Linen.

The hospital director was unavailable for comment. She was believed to be chairing a Family Planning Workshop together with her eleven children.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Saman denied allegations that the state government was not exerting enough pressure on the federal government to tackle the mounting healthcare woes in Sabah.

“With regards to the issue of broken-down lifts, I have already emailed all my favorite cronies to issue the most attractive tender. We will select the most outrageous quotation for spareparts imported from my ancestors’ homeland of Pakistan,” Musa Saman clarified.

The chief Minister further added that allegations of corruption and feet-dragging in the current Sabah state healthcare crisis are the work of irresponsible politicians from the opposition.

Healthscare Minister Liow Tong Lai urged the public to be patient and understanding as the government is facing a very challenging time allocating funds for provision of healthcare services and prosecuting ex-ministers involved in extramarital sexacapes.

Interviews with patients and hospital staff surprisingly revealed much optimism and high morale.

Anu Bah, an elderly patient with advanced lung cancer said that he was grateful to the Barisan Najis (BN) government for sponsoring his CT scan at the Sabah Medical Center. He also wished to express gratitude to the nine hospital staff who carted him on a trolley down two flights of stairs and up again.

Meanwhile, hospital staff Bilang Bilang added that the hospital support services unit is proud to demonstrate solidarity and the spirit of muhibbah in times of adversities such as these.

Bilang added that Sabahans have total faith in the leadership of the BN government to resolve this crisis situation.

“Anu bah…the current predicament Sabahans are facing is a blessing in disguise. It is a golden opportunity for us Sabahans to display our harmonious spirit to the Peninsular Malaysians bah,” he concluded before proceeding to carry the 50kg oxgen tank upstairs.

How to Make Easy Money In A Healthcare Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:16:00 +0000

An Open Apology To The Health Minister

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Dear Yang Amat Berhormat (YAB) Datuk Liow Tiong Lai,

I am sincerely sorry for my unwarranted outburst in my previous letter.

Your kind intentions have been severely misinterpreted.

I am utterly sorry if I appeared to belittle your credentials and leadership capabilities.

I can see now what an ignorant nincompoop I have been by accusing so very unjustly.

Dear YAB,

I realise now that you had far-sighted goals when you closed down our operation theatres and wards. In line with global medical education and training, you wanted the doctors in Sabah to be well-versed in acute care and emergency healthcare services.

Therefore, you abruptly but wisely witheld all non-emergency surgeries like colon cancers and enlarged prostates. You knew that one day these tumors would grow and spread and cause potentially irrversible severe systemic upset. That is the perfect time when we doctors will finally get the opportunity to provide acute care.

I am also apologetic for accusing the Minisry of deliberate feet-dragging in building a new general hospital for Sabah. In fact, I am losing sleep over my unfounded allegations that cronies of the state and federal government are reaping indecent profits from the current health crisis.

I should have known better. Malaysia is after all, not spared from the global economic turmoil. We should be more thrifty and save our funds and billions of ringgit for projects of greater public interest, like the national space program and the many buy-elections ahead.

Oh, how were you misunderstood! A thousand apologies from me!

Dear Datuk,

I was also uninformed and ignorant of your noble mission to improve palliative services in Sabah and the country as a whole. Why should we doctors perform complicated and heroic surgeries trying to cure cancer and degenerative diseases? After all, there is a oft-repeated medical slogan that clinicians should ‘cure sometimes, relieve often and comfort always’. If only I had known that you were a staunch believer in palliative care, I would not have bombarded the Ministry with such contempt.

From now on, I will stop pleading the Ministry of Health for more operating theatres, recovery wards and medical staff trained in life-saving clinical work. I will instead persuade cancer patients against surgery and opt for palliative care instead. I will encourage my colleagues to do the same although I can’t guarantee that they will do the same. They are very stubborn and determined doctors, you see – not unlike me when I wrote my first letter to you.

Dear most honorable and esteemed Minister,

After today, I will based all my clinical judgement on bedside assessment instead of relying on x-rays, CT scans and various blood results. I realise now that you were only trying to make us into more astute clinicians when you seemingly neglected Sabah by not providing us a CT scan and various diagnostic lab tests.

Lastly, my most respected and magnanimous Health Minister, I apologise from the bottom of my heart and beg for pardon for my excessive sarcasm in this second letter.

I am after all, a product of the system.

An Open Letter To The Minister of Health

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Unlike MCA members, not everyone enjoys being labeled a ‘squatter’....Mr Minister, how would you like to have a tumor growing in your rectum with no avenue of getting it removed?...

Dear Health Minister,

Ali, a 32-year-old road traffic accident victim, travelled three hours from the district of Sabah and arrived in Kota Kinabalu six hours after the initial trauma. After the initial assessment in the emergency department, a CT scan of the head and abdomen was ordered to exclude intracranial bleeding and intraabdominal injury.

He was whisked back onto an ambulance to the privately-owned Sabah Medical Center (SMC) for the required scans. After the ten-minute procedure, he was repacked into the ambulance back to Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to undergo further assessment while awaiting the results of his blood tests and x-rays. His scans and X-rays were reviewed.

Ali was found to have a lacerated liver and a fractured long bone with multiple superficial wounds. He was then prepared for emergency surgery.

For that, the young man was then re-wheeled into the ambulance headed once again to the SMC where the operating theatre and intensive care unit of QEH are currently housed.
By the time surgery starts, it was already nine hours from the time of his motor vehicle accident.
My story hasn’t finished, Mr Minister.

One hour into the operation, our young chap bled tremendously that he required more blood products to sustain life. It would not be another hour or so before the blood products arrive from the blood bank of QEH to the SMC. You see YB, blood has to be taken from the patient and passed to a house officer. The house officer will fill in the necessary forms and hand them over to an attendant. The attendant will wait for a chartered bus or ambulance to head back to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or rather, what remains of it.

Back in QEH, the attendant will wait 45 minutes for the blood to be cross-matched and then wait a while more for the arrival of a chartered bus or ambulance to ferry him (or her) back to SMC.
Anyway, being a fit and healthy young man previously, Ali survived the operation. He was admitted to the ICU and needed a repeated chest x-ray.

For that, the radiography team in QEH is informed. The duo will then take a the chartered bus or ambulance SMC to perform the X-ray. Shooting an X-ray takes all but two minutes. Processing the cassette will take another five. However, the processing is done back in the hospital and delivered by the next available ambulance back to SMC. By the time the X-ray films reach the patient, it could be anything from three to twelve hours later.

Dear Yang Berkhidmat (YB) Liow,

I hope you notice the unacceptable predicament our Sabahan patients (and medical staff) are facing currently.

It is already six months since the initial and abrupt closure of Kota Kinabalu’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Since then, we have been without a proper operating theatre and intensive care unit. We are also without distinctive wards for many of our surgical patients of most disciplines.

Frankly speaking, the health crisis of the state of Sabah has run so deep and far along that I do not where to begin.

I will instead serve an eye opening fact to you, Mr. Liow.

At the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the the communist government of the People’s Republic of China erected a 1,000-bedded hospital within seven days. Work on the Xiaotangshan Hospital started on April 24, 2003 and completed on April 30th, with 7,000 workers and 500 machines tirelessly on duty around the clock. Far from being a melamine-laced structure, the Xiaotangshan Hospital is equipped with the then state-of-the-art anti-infective measures and facilities. The structure built within a week is still standing firm six years later today, ready to house any ill and potentially infective patient in the event of any unforeseen health crisis.

Mr Health Minister,

That is exactly what Sabahans are in right now – a health crisis!

The Barisan Nasional government chants ‘Malaysia Boleh’ like some proverbial battlecry but the Sabah state health crisis has proven that empty vessels make the most noise.

Unlike MCA members, not everyone enjoys being labeled a ‘squatter’.

For six months, the medical staff and patients of Sabah have been housed in sections of the Sabah Medical Center paying a whooping rental of RM 90,000 per day.

For five months since our forced relocation into your prized SMC, we only had one operating room for life-threatening emergency cases. Elective surgeries were postponed indefinitely even those involving cancers and prostates and suspicious breast lumps.

We only restarted elective surgeries a month ago but even so, the backlog of cases is tremendous and catastrophic.

I wonder Mr Minister, how would you like to have a tumor growing in your rectum with no avenue of getting it removed?

That is exactly what our poor Sabah folks were facing. They were without money and without a hospital to get operated in. In fact, they still don’t because they do not have a formal general hospital for Kota Kinabalu anymore.

Heck, we don’t even have our own CT scan.

What we do have however is lots of bills to pay and debts to settle.

Is it true that the state department of health owes SMC a total of RM 6.1 million for CT scan services? Is it true that Hantaran Wira, the company contracted to provide transport to and fro SMC-QEH is paid RM 0.5 million per month?

Mr. Minister,

You owe the 3.4 million population of Sabah a lot of answers, wasted lives and needless deaths.

Money cannot solve all problems in life.

Thank you for listening.

Yang menurut perintah,
Product of the System.

Malaysians in Forbes Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Kuala Lumpur, Thursday. The highly-acclaimed Forbes magazine records five new overnight Malaysian multimillioaires in its latest February 2009 issue.

They are no strangers to the local population and go by the names of Nasharudin Hashim, Mohd Osman Jailu, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Hee Yit Foong and P Balasubramaniam.

In an immediate response, Malaysian Finance Minister cum premier-to-be Najis Razak applauded the great news and credited the achievement to the wise economic management of the Barisan Najis (BN) government.

Nasharudin, Mohd Osman, Jamaluddin and Hee Yit Foong are tied on the Forbes list with RM 50 million each,while P. Balasubramaniam is ranked a few notches lower with an estimated wealth of RM 15 million.

“Malaysians of all races and walks of life are proud to have five of our own in an esteemed publication like Forbes. It is concrete evidence of the efficacy of my Ostrich in the Sand financial doctrine. The multi-racial lineup is also a testimony that the Najis Economic Policy (NEP) has empowered the Malay society without sidelining the minority races,” said Najis in a media statement from the Finance Ministry.

In a faxed statement, HINDRAF leader P. Warthamoorthy comments that the lower ranking of the Indian Malaysian is yet another firm evidence that “machas are severely marginalized in Tanah Melayu.” He will be petitioning Queen Elizabeth II on this matter.

The article in Forbes magazine also carried snippets of interviews with the newly-minted Malaysian millionaires.

“Unknown to many, Nasharudin and I have been working on a frog farming business venture for eleven months now. Fishing for ikan haruan (snakehead) is very popular among the Malaysian population, especially UMNO politicians. In addition, bubur haruan (snakehead porridge) is a hot-selling local delicacy,” Hee Yit Fong was quoted as saying.

Mohd Osman and Jamaludin meanwhile are reowned figures in the female escort services with franchises in Indonesia and China. Both brushed off allegations that providing and receiving female companionship is haram in Islam.
“Our principles are simple. When someone offers you a young, sexy lady from China, it is sedekah (donation) and not immoral. Giving and receiving alms is not wrong in any religion, is it?” quipped Osman.

Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam when contacted, refuses to comment on his relatively lower standing or divulge any details of his current whereabouts.
“I’m in a place far, far away where there is no todi or murtabak. The majority of the people here do not speak Tamil but Swedish,” was all PI Bala had to say before he hung up.

Other Malaysians who almost made the Forbes list include two young bumiputera Malay chaps by the name of Saiful Bukhari and Hilmy Malek. Both are currently in the sand business, with Hilmy saying that Malaysians will surely respond to Najis’ head-in-the-sand solution to economic woes.

The Najis Cure To An Ailing Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:56:00 +0000

Putrajaya, Wednesday. Prime Minister designate Najis Tun Razak today had unveiled a grand masterplan to help Malaysians overcome the woes of an ailing global and national economy.

“We must learn from the ostrich. When we bury our heads in sand, we can’t see our predators and vice versa. If Malaysians would spend less time worrying about the economy and instead focus on politics and juicy scandals, the global economic crisis will pass us by without our realising so,” Najis said in his keynote address at the annual Glocal Economic Forum.

“Malaysians must be thankful to the BN government for creating so much distractions lately. From the Altantuya murder trial to the disappearance of PI Balasubramaniam, the Perak political crisis and the Elizabeth Wong photos, Malaysians of all races are eternally indebted to the BN government. Look how fast and how much time has passed us by. It’s already the end of Feb 2009. Malaysian Chinese especially should balas budi (show gratitude),” he added.

At the closing ceremony of the forum, Najis announced the formation of a new economic caucus comprising Malaysia, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Mongolia tentatively named C4 . C4 is expected to be an influential and trend-setting financial powerhouse in the Asian-African continents.

“C4 is my brainchild and I am very proud of it. For starters, the C4 nations will promote my Ostrich In The Sand doctrine among all nations in order to weather the increasingly volatile global financial sentiments. The C4 creed is simple and universal. It is a concept that can battle almost all of our troubles, from a shrinking national currency to blackmailing mistresses,” Najis added.
A total of three economic resolutions were passed among the participating nations in the inaugural C4 conference.

Firstly, Malaysia will donate another one third of Sabah’s jungles as logs to the erection of Robert Mugabe’s second mansion.

Secondly, North Korea will impart its nuclear technology knowledge to Malaysia as soon as its reclusive grand leader Kim Jong Il emerges from hiding for the first time in a decade.

Thirdly, Mongolian ladies will have a no-frills access in and out of Malaysia.
“There will no immigration hassle for all Mongolian ladies aged between 16-46 years whose waistline is less than 31 inches. There will be no immigration records of any sort. We expect Mongolian ladies to respond favorably to this piece of good news. They will be given an exclusive tour of my bedroom,” Najis explained.

Not all economic maestros agree with the Ostrich In The Sand doctrine however. DAP economic advisor Tony Pua remarked that ostriches do not actually bury their heads in sand to escape from their daily issues of survival and death.

“Quite frankly, ostriches are merely searching for berries underground,” Pua said.

Political Storm Moves to Selangor

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Selangor, Monday. Photos featuring a state politician in various stages of undress with a tempeh are in circulation on the world wide web. It is the second political scandal of such nature in as many days.

Details at press time are scant but a reliable source revealed that the politician concerned was a former chief minister of Indonesian descent with a recent history of botulism therapy. It is also widely believed that the politician was a former dentist who entered and graduated from University Malaya under a New Economic Policy (NEP) ticket. The photos reportedly contain very explicit images of the politician in multiple compromising positions in the nude with a tempeh.

State opposition party, the United Mamaks National Organization (UMNO) condemns the perpetrator and has lodged a police report, claiming that photos depicting a fat and ugly non-Malaysian was an act of treason to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Dr. Mohd Khir Toyol, a nominee for UMNO Youth leader in the upcoming UMNO general assembly announced that he will mobilise hundreds of thousands of unemployable Mat Rempits in a public demonstration as an act of solidarity with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. He further added that he will do so immediately after ingesting his last home-cooked tempeh.

“As a first generation Indonesian-Malaysian, I am appaled by the insensitiviy of the person releasing such photographs over the world wide web... I would also like to take this opportunity to declare unreservedly that I am not the person in the nude in those photographs. The person in those photos looked like me and acted like me. However, he is fat, stout and unbelievably ugly and therefore can’t be me,” Dr. Khir Toyol said as he read with great difficulty from a one-page statement.

Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong, herself a recent victim of similar incident remarked that the public should not be quick to speculate or pass judgement in situations like this.

“He that hath not sinned, let him cast the first stone.” YB Elizabeth added.

In an immediate response, Dr Khir Toyol has this to say: “Pass me the stone now, please.”

A New Daily in Town

noreply@blogger.com (Product of the System) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:02:00 +0000

I'm tired of the blasphemous UMNO-owned media.

I'm starting my own publication.

Watch this space.