On November 16, 2010 I wrote a post titled : Horror Hospitals - a critique of the poor quality of public healthcare in the country. While my rant met with approval in certain quarters, it did not go down well with some others (Namely junior doctors serving at government hospitals - based on feedback from a friend who posted a link to my post on his social networking site.) It can be read at: http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2010/11/horror-hospitals.html
Though the doctors in question did not comment, I did receive a response from justwannadropbyandsayhello. The comment is as follows:
"fractured hand? can u die from death if not diagnosed earlier? come on..
They know their job and that’s why they are called a doctor.
Just be a patient.. and don’t be a selfish..
other people deserved a treatment better that you in term of priority..
“staff overworked is not an issue”
seriously, can u work 36 hours straight without a sleep?
Do you want a sleepy doctor to operate on you?
joker..
P/s: I’m not a health staff etc but I have a friend there.. Instead of bashing them, I try to put myself of their shoes.."
First of all I would like to thank justwannadropbyandsayhello for commenting. Considering that this person came out strongly in defense of doctors at public hospitals, I thought it was only fair that I write in reply. A shame that the email address provided does not exist, for I fully intended to provide notification of my reply. (My answer is in italics)
"fractured hand? can u die from death if not diagnosed earlier? come on..
They know their job and that’s why they are called a doctor.
The golden rule is read thoroughly before you attempt to comment. Firstly my brother fractured his finger and not his hand. And nowhere in my post did I state that his fractured finger would result in death.
What I wrote was: " Do they not know that there have been people out there who have gotten up and walked after being involved in an accident, only to die a few days later because of internal bleeding?" What I meant was just because a person appears only to have sustained minor injuries from an accident does not mean that they are out of the danger zone yet, so don't treat such cases lightly and make them wait hours to see the doctor.
Just be a patient.. and don’t be a selfish..
other people deserved a treatment better that you in term of priority..
Considering that you were not at the hospital the night of my brother's accident, how do you know that there were other people there who deserved better treatment? Can you safely say that you know? Perhaps one must first have fractures on the fingers and collar bone to answer that question properly. Maybe the excruciating pain would provide some amount of enlightenment.
“staff overworked is not an issue”
seriously, can u work 36 hours straight without a sleep?
It definitely is an issue for the hospital authorities to tackle. It is not an excuse for providing poor quality medical treatment ever. Is it the patients' fault that the doctors or other medical staff on duty are not getting enough sleep hmm?
Do you want a sleepy doctor to operate on you?
joker..
Based on all the cases of negligence at public hospitals that have been reported in the media, it does appear that a lot of sleepy doctors have been operating on patients!
P/s: I’m not a health staff etc but I have a friend there.. Instead of bashing them, I try to put myself of their shoes.."
Does your friend know about this?
http://www.klik4malaysia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4921%3Asultan-ismail-hospital-under-investigation-for-negligence&catid=77
I doubt that I'm the only one with grouses against the quality of service at public hospitals. It's at best an old story. But each time we hear of something unfortunate happening to someone, it reminds us of how little we can rely on such hospitals.
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