Is our medical services in Malaysia that bad? Or do we just have not so dedicated doctors within our mist? I was shocked to hear that a family friend passed away last Saturday, just a day before the CNY eve. However, what make it even worse was how the medical staff treated her when she was fighting for dear life..
Aunt X suffered a stroke while preparing dinner.. I think she overworked herself on that Sat, running from place to place, as you know, last minute shopping for CNY.. And although she suffered a stroke, she was still able to speak and call for help.. That actually gave a ray of hope that she could actually survive the stroke.. With the help of her neighbours, she was rushed to Hospital Tuanku Jaafar and straight taken into the emergency ward.. However base on what I've heard, things didn't go as plan.. It was night at that time.. And it seems there were no doctors free to attend to her at that time.. So the nurses just do their routine stuff, take her high blood pressure and etc.. Obviously this panic both her son and husband.. At last a doctor came and the son thought things will go better from there.. Unfortunately it did not..
The doctor on duty didn't seem to take her condition seriously and were taking his time to tend to her..Her BP was already of the charts and yet the doctor was busy testing this reflexes and that, exhausting her even more.. Her son ask the doctor to give her something to reduce her BP.. However to his horror the doctor did nothing, just continuing to perform those checks, saying they needed to see if it's really a stroke.. Damn right? Only about an hour later did they give her some medication to reduce her BP but by that time her condition was worsening..
Her son, seeing the condition the mother was in ask the doctor can she be placed in the ICU ward.. Quite a practical thing to do right? To which he replied all the wards are full.. Puzzled by this the family members took a walk around the ICU ward and saw an empty bed or room there.. They questioned the doctor and nurses there about this and this is what they got in reply, that their mother was already old and the bed is reserved for like emergency operation patients or younger patients.. So are they trying to send the message that old people should just be left to suffer and die? Where's the humanity in that? Then the doctor told them he cannot simply transfer patients to the ICU ward, it must come from some higher authority in the hospital.. The son said you're a specialist and you can't order a patient to be transfered? He said it's out of their hands.. They have no power in this case.. So unbelievable.. A life and death situation is right before them and they cannot make a decision.. Truly shocking..
Later Aunt X slipped into a coma and condition was already very critical.. They hook her up with machines like ventilators and all.. The doctor explained to her son that his mum is now on artificial breathing, artificial this, artificial that.. In other words his telling his mum was a goner.. And did i mentioned that when the nurse was putting on the hospital gown for Aunt X, the nurse treated her without proper care.. It was like, I dunno.. I just can't describe it.. Thinking of it makes me angry.. In the end, she passed away, but to the son, he wonders will Aunt X still be alive, celebrating CNY, if the medical staff at the hospital be more effective..
I remember reading an article saying by 2015 Malaysia will be overflowing with doctors.. Overflowing with doctors maybe correct, although to me as long there are patients and new diseases around, the need for doctors will always be there.. And second thing, we might have too many doctors in Malaysia but not enough dedicated and good doctors.. It saddens me to see this happen and hopefully the situation will change for the better.. I'm not saying our medical staff is entirely bad.. They are good medical personnel out there, especially those who treated my brother when he had epilepsy.. However why can't everyone receive the same kind of good treatment? A question that is left to be answered..
Aunt X suffered a stroke while preparing dinner.. I think she overworked herself on that Sat, running from place to place, as you know, last minute shopping for CNY.. And although she suffered a stroke, she was still able to speak and call for help.. That actually gave a ray of hope that she could actually survive the stroke.. With the help of her neighbours, she was rushed to Hospital Tuanku Jaafar and straight taken into the emergency ward.. However base on what I've heard, things didn't go as plan.. It was night at that time.. And it seems there were no doctors free to attend to her at that time.. So the nurses just do their routine stuff, take her high blood pressure and etc.. Obviously this panic both her son and husband.. At last a doctor came and the son thought things will go better from there.. Unfortunately it did not..
The doctor on duty didn't seem to take her condition seriously and were taking his time to tend to her..Her BP was already of the charts and yet the doctor was busy testing this reflexes and that, exhausting her even more.. Her son ask the doctor to give her something to reduce her BP.. However to his horror the doctor did nothing, just continuing to perform those checks, saying they needed to see if it's really a stroke.. Damn right? Only about an hour later did they give her some medication to reduce her BP but by that time her condition was worsening..
Her son, seeing the condition the mother was in ask the doctor can she be placed in the ICU ward.. Quite a practical thing to do right? To which he replied all the wards are full.. Puzzled by this the family members took a walk around the ICU ward and saw an empty bed or room there.. They questioned the doctor and nurses there about this and this is what they got in reply, that their mother was already old and the bed is reserved for like emergency operation patients or younger patients.. So are they trying to send the message that old people should just be left to suffer and die? Where's the humanity in that? Then the doctor told them he cannot simply transfer patients to the ICU ward, it must come from some higher authority in the hospital.. The son said you're a specialist and you can't order a patient to be transfered? He said it's out of their hands.. They have no power in this case.. So unbelievable.. A life and death situation is right before them and they cannot make a decision.. Truly shocking..
Later Aunt X slipped into a coma and condition was already very critical.. They hook her up with machines like ventilators and all.. The doctor explained to her son that his mum is now on artificial breathing, artificial this, artificial that.. In other words his telling his mum was a goner.. And did i mentioned that when the nurse was putting on the hospital gown for Aunt X, the nurse treated her without proper care.. It was like, I dunno.. I just can't describe it.. Thinking of it makes me angry.. In the end, she passed away, but to the son, he wonders will Aunt X still be alive, celebrating CNY, if the medical staff at the hospital be more effective..
I remember reading an article saying by 2015 Malaysia will be overflowing with doctors.. Overflowing with doctors maybe correct, although to me as long there are patients and new diseases around, the need for doctors will always be there.. And second thing, we might have too many doctors in Malaysia but not enough dedicated and good doctors.. It saddens me to see this happen and hopefully the situation will change for the better.. I'm not saying our medical staff is entirely bad.. They are good medical personnel out there, especially those who treated my brother when he had epilepsy.. However why can't everyone receive the same kind of good treatment? A question that is left to be answered..
No comments:
Post a Comment