A tiny sardine can of a plane.
Monday, March 06, 2006
A trip to Mukah
Last week I made a trip to Mukah. It was a part of an official job, visiting the clinics in the central region of Sarawak (Sibu, Mukah , Sarekei and Kapit divisions). Due to the large coverage area, it’s just like covering 4 countries!!! Sibu to Mukah is about 160 km away, but because of the bumpy road, a land trip will take almost 3 hours. So I decided to take a flight which only takes 25 minutes. Since there is only one air trip per day , so I have to spend a night there.
The only airplane available to Mukah is the twin otter plane, the smallest aircraft in the MAS series which only accommodate 19 persons at one time. The cabin is non pressurized and there is no A/C. But there are two small fans like what cabbies will sometimes mount on their dashboards. So you can imagine how hot it is inside the cabin. There is no barrier between the passenger area and the cockpit, so you can see the pilots going through their startup procedure in the cockpit, flipping switches and pulling levers. I felt little bit scared and nauseous when the plane trembles due to turbulence.
The nice part of flying in a small plane like that was the view: I could see the Sarawak wilderness spreading out below me. Mostly, we were flowing over the vast stretches of peat swamp that cover much of the lowlands.
As we approached Mukah, I could see oil palm plantations, laid out in orderly blocks. They were a gridded network of drainage canals and roads ran between the blocks. Interspersed with these were what appeared to be palm-dominated jungle, but with narrow, shallow water ways that seemed too regular to be natural streams, but were far less orderly than the oil palm estates. I later learned those were traditional Sago plantations.
Mukah Division was newly declared as the Tenth Division of Sarawak on the 1st of March 2002 by the Chief Minister of Sarawak YAB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud. It is an ancient trading and fishing port, situated at the mouth of the Mukah River adjacent to the South China Sea. Historically, the town was an outpost of the Sultanate of Brunei. It became part of Sarawak in 1861. Mukah used to be a trade centre and an important port during the times of the Brunei Sultanate Government in the mid 19th century. It has direct trading with China, Singapore and the neighboring areas. Time has changed and now other cities and ports such as Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri have taken over as a peaceful and developed trade center.
The majority of the Mukah population is from the Melanau tribe. They are considered by the anthropologists to be among the original settlers of Sarawak, legend has it that the name "Melanau" was given to the inhabitants of the coastal swamp flats and river banks of Central Sarawak by one of the Sultans of Brunei. The original religion of the Melanau people was Liko, meaning "people of the river". In the Liko religion, life and the environment are one. Followers worship the spiritual world, including the superior ‘tou’ spirits and the lesser ‘belum’ spirits that cause sickness. The pagan Melanau use effigies of sickness spirits when practicing healing. These healing are called berbayoh and berayun. Many Melanau today are Christian and Muslim, though they still celebrate traditional festivals especially 'Kaul'.
Melanau ethnic speaks in their own dialect which is totally different from the local Sarawak dialect. If you can make an intelligent guess from the Iban dialect, it is extremely difficult to do so from Melanau language.
One of the famous foods among Melanau is what they called ‘Umai’. It is a raw fish which is cut into small pieces. A lemon juices is added into it after which you can eat with a special spicy source. It is said that Umai was first introduced by the Japanese during the occupation era.
There are total 4 hospitals in Mukah divisions but only the one in Mukah district itself has doctors, others are run by the MAs and Nurses. Hospital Mukah is a small, old fashion building which incorporated the inward-patient and the outpatient department under one roof. There are 4 doctors (MO) working in the hospitals. In addition to the workload in the Mukah Hospital they have to visit other hospitals and join the Flying Doctors Service (FDS) when required.
After a short visit to the Mukah I went back to Sibu the next day to prepare for the next trip.
The only airplane available to Mukah is the twin otter plane, the smallest aircraft in the MAS series which only accommodate 19 persons at one time. The cabin is non pressurized and there is no A/C. But there are two small fans like what cabbies will sometimes mount on their dashboards. So you can imagine how hot it is inside the cabin. There is no barrier between the passenger area and the cockpit, so you can see the pilots going through their startup procedure in the cockpit, flipping switches and pulling levers. I felt little bit scared and nauseous when the plane trembles due to turbulence.
The nice part of flying in a small plane like that was the view: I could see the Sarawak wilderness spreading out below me. Mostly, we were flowing over the vast stretches of peat swamp that cover much of the lowlands.
As we approached Mukah, I could see oil palm plantations, laid out in orderly blocks. They were a gridded network of drainage canals and roads ran between the blocks. Interspersed with these were what appeared to be palm-dominated jungle, but with narrow, shallow water ways that seemed too regular to be natural streams, but were far less orderly than the oil palm estates. I later learned those were traditional Sago plantations.
Mukah Division was newly declared as the Tenth Division of Sarawak on the 1st of March 2002 by the Chief Minister of Sarawak YAB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud. It is an ancient trading and fishing port, situated at the mouth of the Mukah River adjacent to the South China Sea. Historically, the town was an outpost of the Sultanate of Brunei. It became part of Sarawak in 1861. Mukah used to be a trade centre and an important port during the times of the Brunei Sultanate Government in the mid 19th century. It has direct trading with China, Singapore and the neighboring areas. Time has changed and now other cities and ports such as Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri have taken over as a peaceful and developed trade center.
The majority of the Mukah population is from the Melanau tribe. They are considered by the anthropologists to be among the original settlers of Sarawak, legend has it that the name "Melanau" was given to the inhabitants of the coastal swamp flats and river banks of Central Sarawak by one of the Sultans of Brunei. The original religion of the Melanau people was Liko, meaning "people of the river". In the Liko religion, life and the environment are one. Followers worship the spiritual world, including the superior ‘tou’ spirits and the lesser ‘belum’ spirits that cause sickness. The pagan Melanau use effigies of sickness spirits when practicing healing. These healing are called berbayoh and berayun. Many Melanau today are Christian and Muslim, though they still celebrate traditional festivals especially 'Kaul'.
Melanau ethnic speaks in their own dialect which is totally different from the local Sarawak dialect. If you can make an intelligent guess from the Iban dialect, it is extremely difficult to do so from Melanau language.
One of the famous foods among Melanau is what they called ‘Umai’. It is a raw fish which is cut into small pieces. A lemon juices is added into it after which you can eat with a special spicy source. It is said that Umai was first introduced by the Japanese during the occupation era.
There are total 4 hospitals in Mukah divisions but only the one in Mukah district itself has doctors, others are run by the MAs and Nurses. Hospital Mukah is a small, old fashion building which incorporated the inward-patient and the outpatient department under one roof. There are 4 doctors (MO) working in the hospitals. In addition to the workload in the Mukah Hospital they have to visit other hospitals and join the Flying Doctors Service (FDS) when required.
After a short visit to the Mukah I went back to Sibu the next day to prepare for the next trip.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Arif ICT
Terimakasih kepada En Azli Paat kerana sudi mewar-warkan laman blog saya ke seluruh Malaysia melalui program Arif ICT di Nasional FM jam 7.30 pagi tadi. Saya memang peminat setia Arif ICT sejak setahun lepas. Walaupun hanya 10 minit tetapi cukup berisi. Laman En Azli boleh dilayari di http://azli.dapat.com/.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Selamat Tahun Baru 2006
Tiba saja akhir tahun saya sibuk menyusun perancangan untuk tahun depan. Antaranya membuat justifikasi bagi memohon jawatan baru. Kebanyakan kakitangan di Klinik Lanang adalah dari Klinik lama Low King How yang kini telah di robohkan untuk memberi laluan kepada projek Sibu City Centre. Antara jawatan baru yang diminta termasuklah jawatan physiotherapy dan telefonis/operator. Ini memandangkan jumlah bilangan pesakit yang terus meningkat. Kedatangan pesakit sekarang telah mencecah hampir 400 orang sehari dan dijangka terus meningkat lebih-lebih lagi apabila siapnya jambatan baru yang menghubungkan Bandar Sibu dan Sarekei.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Teleprimary Care is coming
Finally, the Ministry of Health has approved KK Lanang to be included in the Teleprimary Care (TPC) Network. It is simply because the family physician is one of the major key players in the game. They have allocated 250 thousand for the clinic and the hardware installation is under progress. TPC which is under Telehealth project is one of the flagships of Multimedia Super Corridor. As we move forward to become a developed nation, the government is committed to provide a comprehensive health system which is equitable, affordable, efficient, technologically appropriate and customer friendly.
One of the major problems of health services in Malaysia is the availability of comprehensiveness and quality of health care in remote health centres. When patients are transferred from the health centres to the hospitals for further treatment, this not only incurs inconvenience to the patients and their family but also increases the cost to the health care system. Teleprimary care is one of the tools to overcome this problem. The doctors in the remote clinics are able to discuss the problem cases through teleconsultation with the doctors and specialist in the hospitals using an audiovisual system to provide better care in the health centers without transferring the patients to the hospitals. Only the essential and needy patients are referred to the hospitals. This has not only reduced the number of patients referred to the hospitals but it has reduced the cost to the health care system. It has also provided a more comprehensive care to the patients in the health centres. The doctors in the health centers are also provided training and are also updated on the latest in medicine. This method of training has made doctors in the health centers more efficient and satisfied.
TPC is still under a pilot project. Besides Johor, Sibu and all the health centres along the Rajang basin has been selected as the pilot area. With it mountainous and hilly topography which is only accessible either by river or air, Sarawak especially Sibu and the Rajang Basin will benefited the most from this project. I remember seeing patient who departed as early as 2 am with the express boat from Kapit and reach Sibu only 4 hours later. After receiving treatment from the clinic or hospital they have to spend a night in Sibu before they can cruise back the next day because there is no express boat service after 12 pm.
One of the major problems of health services in Malaysia is the availability of comprehensiveness and quality of health care in remote health centres. When patients are transferred from the health centres to the hospitals for further treatment, this not only incurs inconvenience to the patients and their family but also increases the cost to the health care system. Teleprimary care is one of the tools to overcome this problem. The doctors in the remote clinics are able to discuss the problem cases through teleconsultation with the doctors and specialist in the hospitals using an audiovisual system to provide better care in the health centers without transferring the patients to the hospitals. Only the essential and needy patients are referred to the hospitals. This has not only reduced the number of patients referred to the hospitals but it has reduced the cost to the health care system. It has also provided a more comprehensive care to the patients in the health centres. The doctors in the health centers are also provided training and are also updated on the latest in medicine. This method of training has made doctors in the health centers more efficient and satisfied.
TPC is still under a pilot project. Besides Johor, Sibu and all the health centres along the Rajang basin has been selected as the pilot area. With it mountainous and hilly topography which is only accessible either by river or air, Sarawak especially Sibu and the Rajang Basin will benefited the most from this project. I remember seeing patient who departed as early as 2 am with the express boat from Kapit and reach Sibu only 4 hours later. After receiving treatment from the clinic or hospital they have to spend a night in Sibu before they can cruise back the next day because there is no express boat service after 12 pm.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Sehari di Rumah Panjang
Tanggal 26 November lalu saya bersama sebuah badan NGO telah berkunjung ke sebuah rumah panjang di kawasan Bintangor lebih kurang 40 minit dari Sibu. Tujuan kunjungan tersebut adalah bagi menjayakan program Berhari Raya (orang Sarawak panggil program ramah tamah / berambeh). Rumah panjang Iban tersebut telah memeluk Islam sekitar tahun 1997. Sebagai seorang yang menggemari kerja-kerja sukarelawan kunjungan ini adalah saat yang ditunggu-tunggu. Ianya bukan hanya untuk merapatkan hubungan silaturahim tetapi yang lebih penting ialah mengenali masyarakat pribumi Sarawak dengan lebih dekat dan mendalam. Rumah panjang yang menempatkan hampir 40 keluarga diketuai oleh seorang ketua yang dipanggil ‘Tuai Rumah’.
Majlis diadakan di ruang tamu yang dipanggil ‘Ruai’. Hampir separuh yang hadir adalah wanita kerana kaum lelaki ada yang pergi bekerja. Upacara dimulai dengan ucapan aluan oleh wakil NGO diikuti oleh tuai rumah. Kemudian kami didendangkan dengan persembahan nasyid oleh anak-anak rumah panjang. Subhanallah ingatkan cuma satu kumpulan rupanya ada 3 kumpulan termasuk yang veteran. Yang menariknya satu kumpulan nasyid remaja yang menggelarkan diri mereka kumpulan 2 in 1 mendendangkan sebuah nasyid kontemporari. Acara seterusnya adalah peraduan mewarna untuk kanak-kanak dan peraduan menulis khat untuk dewasa. Alhamdulillah semuanya berlumba-lumba mengambil bahagian.
Majlis berhenti rehat untuk solat zohor dan disambung semula selepas makan tengahari. Tersentuh hati bila mendengar anak-anak kecil membaca doa makan beramai-ramai. Acara sebelah petang adalah pertandingan membaca fatihah dan azan serta diakhiri dengan acara sukanika. Sebelum penyampaian hadiah satu ceramah agama dalam bahasa Iban telah disampaikan oleh Ustaz Yaakob dari Sibu.
Program hari tu memang cukup bermakna kepada kami dan juga penghuni rumah panjang tersebut. Mudah-mudah Allah menguatkan iman mereka dan melimpahkan kesejahteraan kepada seluruh penghuni rumah panjang tersebut. Amin.
Majlis diadakan di ruang tamu yang dipanggil ‘Ruai’. Hampir separuh yang hadir adalah wanita kerana kaum lelaki ada yang pergi bekerja. Upacara dimulai dengan ucapan aluan oleh wakil NGO diikuti oleh tuai rumah. Kemudian kami didendangkan dengan persembahan nasyid oleh anak-anak rumah panjang. Subhanallah ingatkan cuma satu kumpulan rupanya ada 3 kumpulan termasuk yang veteran. Yang menariknya satu kumpulan nasyid remaja yang menggelarkan diri mereka kumpulan 2 in 1 mendendangkan sebuah nasyid kontemporari. Acara seterusnya adalah peraduan mewarna untuk kanak-kanak dan peraduan menulis khat untuk dewasa. Alhamdulillah semuanya berlumba-lumba mengambil bahagian.
Majlis berhenti rehat untuk solat zohor dan disambung semula selepas makan tengahari. Tersentuh hati bila mendengar anak-anak kecil membaca doa makan beramai-ramai. Acara sebelah petang adalah pertandingan membaca fatihah dan azan serta diakhiri dengan acara sukanika. Sebelum penyampaian hadiah satu ceramah agama dalam bahasa Iban telah disampaikan oleh Ustaz Yaakob dari Sibu.
Program hari tu memang cukup bermakna kepada kami dan juga penghuni rumah panjang tersebut. Mudah-mudah Allah menguatkan iman mereka dan melimpahkan kesejahteraan kepada seluruh penghuni rumah panjang tersebut. Amin.
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