Government hospitals and those who seek for treatment there

There are two types of medical services in Malaysia. The heavily subsidised government hospitals and clinics, and the business oriented hospitals and clinics. At the latter, you may go if you want an en suite room or better food. Not necessarily better treatment.

Having worked with the government, i am a strong advocate for government hospitals. I still believe in their decision making accuracy and skills. The specialists at government hospitals are better, provided they have been specialists for more than 5 years or have been in the service for more than 10 years. Better if they have subspecialised and are consultants. Yes it will take 2 months for a non-urgent MRI appointment, but looking at the long queue, that's the best that they could afford. After all, you have been living with an on and off back ache for 10 years, what's an extra 2 months can cause you. But if you need an MRI the same day, by all means get it done in a private hospital.

So you can imagine how it is like in a government hospital. People pay RM 1, some don't even need to pay anything. And then you go in for a 10 000 dollar operation for free. You get seen by specialists at least twice a day. And before you leave, you get a bag full of expensive medicine ranging from antibiotics to pain killers. Everything for absolutely free or heavily subsidised by the government.

Then you get home and complain how annoying it is to have your bloods taken by a fresh graduate doctor who was there to learn and might have pricked you twice just to get things right. Little that you know, you have contributed so much in providing this innocent doctor the platform to become a great specialist in the future.

Do not be too quick to complain against young doctors that might make some silly mistakes along the way. Unless the mistakes are life threatening, then may be you can drop your comments. But do it professionally and as humanely as possible. Do not complain to demean or defame these young doctors who are there to learn as much as they can. After all, every great doctor comes from a humble start.

Above all, don't forget those that look after you during your stay in the hospital, those specialists who operated on you for hours, and those who have paid tax for your life to get fixed for free.

If you still can't be grateful of all that, try the private hospital the next time you fall sick or you break your bone. See if that makes you any happier.