Central Market
Friday, August 12, 2005
A day consultation
Among the things that struck me in this clinic (Lanang Health Clinic, Sibu) is the number of STD cases which is relatively higher compared to a few health clinics I used to work in West Malaysia. Almost every week I got a referral of such cases either from my MOs or from the neighboring health clinic. The fact that these cases are not confined to the adult but also involving children is extremely alarming.
Recently I saw a 3 year old girl presented with yellowish vaginal discharge which later on confirmed to be N. Gonorrhea infection. I’ve seen a few cases of gonorrhea ophthalmia neonatrum which were diagnosed quite late. Maybe it is high time to have a common policy such as pre-pregnancy Gonorrhea screening and prophylactic eye drop for newborns. This one I’m yet to discuss with my boss and the hospital side.
Wassalam.
Recently I saw a 3 year old girl presented with yellowish vaginal discharge which later on confirmed to be N. Gonorrhea infection. I’ve seen a few cases of gonorrhea ophthalmia neonatrum which were diagnosed quite late. Maybe it is high time to have a common policy such as pre-pregnancy Gonorrhea screening and prophylactic eye drop for newborns. This one I’m yet to discuss with my boss and the hospital side.
Wassalam.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Greetings From Sibu
Assalamualaikum and selamat sejahtera,
At last I managed to get the internet connection. This one is via a wireless phone. I'm quite upset for not be able to subscribe to the broadband connection that allowing me to use the cheaper VOIP phone call . Wireless broadband only been provided by Jaring and restricted for the Klang Valley at this moment.
Sibu is not as bad as what I was told. The people here are warm and friendly especially the bumiputras (Iban, melanau etc..). As for the Foo Chow I have not encountered any aggressive behaviour so far. In contrast some of them were so friendly. In fact one the taukeh here lend me his car while waiting mine to arrive from semenanjung.
The first remarked I got from one of my staff clinic was:
" Oh Doctor, you have created a history."
I asked him " What have I done?"
" You are the first family physician in Sibu. Actually we have another one from Taiwan before but he left after working for a few months."
" OK I hope I can serve Sibu longer."
As the first rule when you are posted to a new place is to develop a networking. So last Friday I made an introductory visit to the hospital. It seems that most of them welcoming me although some were skeptical; what kind of specialist I am. A senior pharmacy in the hospital told me:
" So you are the one that we awaiting for, the HQ has allocated 200K for your list A drugs."
I just nodded my head although I were not sure whether that was an adequate amount.
Back to the health side, my boss (Division Health Officer) asked me which post I wanted to "menanggung tugas" MO U48 or FMS U48. Taking MO U48 post means I will be in charge of the clinic and have to do administrative work in addition to the clinical work. While I am aware that we can be both clinician and manager, I just don’t want to be bothered by the nonsense and nitty gritty problems such as leaking pipes, uncut grass etc. On the other hand I don't want others (senior MO/MO in charge) to interrupt my planning (I learned this from the senior fms during our scientific meeting recently) . So I have to make a quick assessment; what are the chances that MOi/c will be an obstacle to me. At last I decided to "menanggung" FMS U48 post and lets MO U48 post taken by another MO (3 years junior from me).
As the first step I told the mo i/c that we need to have a meeting. They hardly have any meetings before and there are a lot of issues and problems that need to be addressed. So we have our first meeting last week. I presented a draft of two years Strategic Planning for the clinic focusing into three key result area; clinical services, human resource development and R&D. I told them that I wish I could turn this clinic into the best primary care centre in this country and I want them to work hard with me. The reason is that I notice in this clinic there is what I call “4pm syndrome” where everybody seem to be lost in action by 4pm and somebody else will clock in everybody punch card.
As for my family, I am actually amazed with the way my children adapt with their new school environment. It goes very well from day one itself (they started schooling on the 5th July while we were still staying in the hotel). May be because I have prepared their mind very well before we came. I used to tell them:
" Hey listen, we are moving into the jungle, we are going to stay in the Iban long house and you may have to take a sampan to school or hanging on the broken "jambatan gantung" to cross the river similar like what you see in the newspaper recently." The spontaneous response from my eldest son was: "Oh, that's cool" while my two daughters remained silent. When we first reached Kuching for duty reporting, my daughter asked me "where is the jungle?" I just pointed to the nearby bushes. As for my wife, she always be a great inspiration for me, if not because of her support, by no way I can be landed in this place.
Ok that’s all for this time. Any comments, suggestions and advices are highly welcomed especially from the senior colleagues.
Wassalam
Zainal Fitri Zakaria
M. Med UKM 2005
Klinik Kesihatan Lanang
Sibu
Sarawak.
At last I managed to get the internet connection. This one is via a wireless phone. I'm quite upset for not be able to subscribe to the broadband connection that allowing me to use the cheaper VOIP phone call . Wireless broadband only been provided by Jaring and restricted for the Klang Valley at this moment.
Sibu is not as bad as what I was told. The people here are warm and friendly especially the bumiputras (Iban, melanau etc..). As for the Foo Chow I have not encountered any aggressive behaviour so far. In contrast some of them were so friendly. In fact one the taukeh here lend me his car while waiting mine to arrive from semenanjung.
The first remarked I got from one of my staff clinic was:
" Oh Doctor, you have created a history."
I asked him " What have I done?"
" You are the first family physician in Sibu. Actually we have another one from Taiwan before but he left after working for a few months."
" OK I hope I can serve Sibu longer."
As the first rule when you are posted to a new place is to develop a networking. So last Friday I made an introductory visit to the hospital. It seems that most of them welcoming me although some were skeptical; what kind of specialist I am. A senior pharmacy in the hospital told me:
" So you are the one that we awaiting for, the HQ has allocated 200K for your list A drugs."
I just nodded my head although I were not sure whether that was an adequate amount.
Back to the health side, my boss (Division Health Officer) asked me which post I wanted to "menanggung tugas" MO U48 or FMS U48. Taking MO U48 post means I will be in charge of the clinic and have to do administrative work in addition to the clinical work. While I am aware that we can be both clinician and manager, I just don’t want to be bothered by the nonsense and nitty gritty problems such as leaking pipes, uncut grass etc. On the other hand I don't want others (senior MO/MO in charge) to interrupt my planning (I learned this from the senior fms during our scientific meeting recently) . So I have to make a quick assessment; what are the chances that MOi/c will be an obstacle to me. At last I decided to "menanggung" FMS U48 post and lets MO U48 post taken by another MO (3 years junior from me).
As the first step I told the mo i/c that we need to have a meeting. They hardly have any meetings before and there are a lot of issues and problems that need to be addressed. So we have our first meeting last week. I presented a draft of two years Strategic Planning for the clinic focusing into three key result area; clinical services, human resource development and R&D. I told them that I wish I could turn this clinic into the best primary care centre in this country and I want them to work hard with me. The reason is that I notice in this clinic there is what I call “4pm syndrome” where everybody seem to be lost in action by 4pm and somebody else will clock in everybody punch card.
As for my family, I am actually amazed with the way my children adapt with their new school environment. It goes very well from day one itself (they started schooling on the 5th July while we were still staying in the hotel). May be because I have prepared their mind very well before we came. I used to tell them:
" Hey listen, we are moving into the jungle, we are going to stay in the Iban long house and you may have to take a sampan to school or hanging on the broken "jambatan gantung" to cross the river similar like what you see in the newspaper recently." The spontaneous response from my eldest son was: "Oh, that's cool" while my two daughters remained silent. When we first reached Kuching for duty reporting, my daughter asked me "where is the jungle?" I just pointed to the nearby bushes. As for my wife, she always be a great inspiration for me, if not because of her support, by no way I can be landed in this place.
Ok that’s all for this time. Any comments, suggestions and advices are highly welcomed especially from the senior colleagues.
Wassalam
Zainal Fitri Zakaria
M. Med UKM 2005
Klinik Kesihatan Lanang
Sibu
Sarawak.
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