Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff has caused uproar among medical professionals for his ‘licensed to kill’ statement when replying to a question in parliament on Monday.
Abdul Latiff was responding on why the government decided to extend the houseman-ship period for trainee doctors from one to two years when he blurted out the controversial words.
What he said was harsh and stupid, but he actually made a good point for his entire speech, that doctors are responsible for the life or death of their patients. Any mistakes or poor judgments from the doctors could lead to serious illness, injuries or fatality… and these cases are not unheard of in Malaysia.
I have a friend who was asked to do an angiogram (normally for heart problems) when she got a gastric; another unfortunate friend had half of his liver cut off because the doctor wrongly diagnosed his earlier symptoms… luckily he survived.
I am sure most of you have heard of some bizarre cases where doctors were making the wrong calls… not from gossips or papers, but real cases among your friends and relatives. For me, it happens a bit too often to be frank.
Licensed to kill? Maybe not; but incompetent doctors certainly could.
It is part of every third country’s government health policy or what i defined as hidden agenda, that is, to lower down the death statistic to show that government do care for their citizens.
[For Eg. only,
Malaysia for instance, u can't save 100,000 person (based on the resources or budget the government has planned...*erm*...) and to save 1 person costs RM1000 (maybe more or maybe less, depends), so to minimise death on 100,000 malaysian, 20,000 of them has to be sacrifice.]
Money really counts!
nonsense.
nonsense?
The poor can’t pay for better medication. A cancer patient (lets say early stage) if he is rich will have at least 70% to survive. Why? coz drugs or medicines will be at their most and will be of high quality (is there any different between low and high quality?). Those who cant afford will have to use the “normal” (low grade) medicine and those who can afford will use “special” high grade stuffs. The poor will of course has lesser chance to survive…right?
As i said, is all up to the government. Our population is only 26 millions, not too many. We have oil, palm oil, rubber, tin also (still got? not so sure), timber, fish and many non-natural related industries. With so many advantages, cant the government provide malaysian citizens of at least the best medical solution? (medical solution = doctors, nurses, medicines, drugs, facilities and etc) And how to increase such stuffs….money lar fren.
Both of my friends mentioned in the article went to private hospitals for diagnostic, both spent thousands on it and got rubbish results.
Yes, the rich will have a slightly better chance of survival in some cases, but it’s not that our government hospitals are much less in quality compared to private hospitals… it’s the general medical standards that should be of concern.
Besides, the medical solutions that the government provides are not substandard… the biggest issue is probably that it’s not adequate enough to support the mass. Quality wise it’s not far behind private hospitals, probably better than some of those.
Our government hospitals are the best in Malaysia for whoever needs to go to hospital. But not if compare to other DEVELOPED countries.
There is no private hospital in Malaysia better equipped than government hospital. Private hospital provides better services, thats all if u got the money…and covers that “service” part only. For those in private hospital really in critical conditions he/she will be send to government hospital.
Government hospitals are somehow different coz they need to safeguard the population of malaysia. With better equipments and resources…there is no reason for them to say sorry to those who unable to pay the bills. So for those who unable to pay the bills, is it fair to just let them have the chances of survival to be lesser than those who are rich?? Our government has the money so no reason.
Regarding doctors. Like what i said, it is all up to government to maintain them. These doctors and even nurses can easily find jobs elsewhere, private hospital in malaysia or overseas, so it is up to the government to maintain them. (Haven’t even mention all the political issues)
The main point is,…our government with natural resources and non-natural industries can easily maintain all the required doctors and professionals. Why do our government doesn’t bother about malaysia’s population health to an extend of “our government is taking care of me”…..since we have the resources?.
All third world countries is like that, and makes me think of an “hidden agenda” behind…apanama…government, that is, to make rich becomes more richer and poor becomes more poorer.
reli?but the government really did something for doctors already..and 1 more issue..i heard that the dispensing right will be given to the pharmacist?That is a real good and wise action,i have stay in UK for few years..and i really think that pharmacist play an important role in healthcare…but the government just ignore them and keep helping the doctors…as you knowlah….doctor in our country mostly are…….