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Showing posts with label Medical tourism healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medical tourism healthcare. Show all posts

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Doctors have bad days too

AS a doctor I have always been asked questions by enthusiastic parents about the job.

Among the questions are: “How is it being a doctor?”, “What do you think if my children become doctors?” and “How much do you earn per month as a doctor?”

Despite an overflow into this profession, many parents are still willing to invest in their children pursuing medicine. Recently, there was an incident in my clinic that still remains in my mind.

There was a patient complaining of the bad attitude of another medical practitioner. He was unhappy and alleged that the doctor did not explain to him politely and treat him appropriately.

I was not present at that time to comment on it, but tried to resolve the misunderstanding amicably by saying doctors too had bad days.

To my surprise, the patient replied: “To me, doctors should always have good days.”

The doctor–patient relationship is unique. It’s like a weighing scale that needs commitment from both parties to maintain its balance.

Undoubtedly, a patient sees a doctor when he or she is unwell and all patients deserve tender loving­ care from their doctors.

But how many patients have done anything to show their appreciation for what their doctors had done for them?

This is a routine day for a doctor. In government/private hospital settings, a doctor has to do ward rounds every morning at 7am, usual­ly examining 30 to 50 patients, depending on “good or bad days”.

After the rounds, the doctor continues seeing follow-up patients at the Out Patient Department (OPD) and that would easily be around 50 patients and more before late afternoon.

After the OPD service, the doctor has to do ward rounds again to review the patients.

On average, a doctor will see around 80 patients per day (working from 7am–5pm). This is one patient every 7.5 minutes.

That is why it is very common to hear patients saying that they waited two hours in the long queue, only to be treated by the doctor in a few minutes.

There is always a tendency for doctors to divide the time unequally with every patient, on a case-by-case basis. In complicated or life-threatening cases, more time is spent with the patient.

In a general practitioner’s clinic, the conditions are no better. The general practitioner is virtually trapped in the small consultation room for a whole day, seeing patients with various ailments.

Like every human being, doctors also face obstacles in life, besides the challenges from career, family, friends, etc.

Long working hours, patient load, stressful working environment and poor quality of life are issues faced by doctors.

We cannot be smiling happily all the time. Sometimes, doctors may look cold and stern. Yet, we try our best to treat the illness of each patient in every possible way.

We uphold the Hippocratic Oath that we took before joining this sacred profession. The essence of the oath is “Above all, do no harm”.

Yes, you may be right that doctors earn well. To most of the doctors, the money that we earn is merely numbers in a bank account. We might not even have a chance to spend it all.

A word of thanks, a small card from patients will truly enrich our days.

By DR H.B. CHEE Muar

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Wednesday 12 February 2014

Malaysia's healthcare system is one of the best in the world


 Country is third best and practioners 'equal to or better than most Western countries'

PETALING JAYA: The country’s achievement at being rated third best in the world for healthcare services is something to be proud of, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

He also gave credit to the boom in the country’s medical tourism sector through strategic investments on good medical facilities and competitive rates compared to other parts of the world.

“Medical tourism has benefited the Government in terms of foreign direct investments and also spin-off effects in the hotel and shopping sectors,” he said yesterday.

The Star Online reported yesterday that a study by the American publication International Living rated Malaysia’s healthcare system as the third best out of 24 countries in its 2014 Global Retirement Index, beating Spain, Italy, Ireland and New Zealand, among other countries.

The index, which was recently released by the Baltimore-based magazine, praised Malaysia’s healthcare, which scored 95 out of a possible 100 points, as the medical expertise of Malaysian healthcare practitioners is “equal to or better than what it is in most Western countries”, according to InternationalLiving.com’s Asia correspondent Keith Hockton.

The top two countries, France and Uruguay, scored 97 and 96 points, respectively.

On the methodology of the index’s ratings, the magazine said both the cost and quality of healthcare were evaluated.

Another report in International Medical Travel Journal News reported that medical tourism receipts in Malaysia from foreign patients totalled RM509.77mil in 2011 involving 578,403 patients.

Dr Subramaniam added that Malaysia remained competitive with players like Singapore and Thailand and the focus was to consolidate the country’s position.

He said the key towards improving the overall healthcare sector would be to focus on the preventive and primary healthcare divisions.

Malaysia Medical Association (MMA) president Datuk Dr N.K.S Tharmaseelan also acknowledged the findings, saying that the country has one of the best healthcare systems in the world.

“The Health Ministry has become a massive seamless service provider in healthcare that has produced magnificent results over the years. Our statistics prove it,” he said, adding that this was despite general practitioners being the lowest paid in the world with their fees being regulated.

He added that impressive figures such as life expectancy for women reaching 80 years and about 72 years for men were reflective of the excellent healthcare provided by the ministry and the private sector.

By G. Surach The Star/Asia News Network