Bought some fried rice and some drinks for her and her colleagues, which was going to be her first meal of the day (and it was almost 9:30pm when we delivered the food)... She was totally "zombified" and thoroughly tired from the lack of sleep/rest. She has been working from 6am till 2am the past few days.. And a while before meeting us, she just sent another of her patients to the ICU.. Suffering from physical and mental exhaustion, coupled with the emotional strain of seeing her patients collapsing and/or deteriorating, she broke down in the car.. My heart went with her and I too shed a few tears.. I could only hold her hands and gave her my support in silence as I was never good with words.. She then picked herself up in less than 10 minutes and went back to work..
As I had mentioned in my earlier blog, my sister started working in the local hospital about 1 week ago.. her first rotation is with the operating/surgical department... And during the past 7 days, I only saw her twice (for less than 10minutes just to pass her food/stuff), received 3 phone calls and 4 SMS from her.. Working 18-hours shift EVERYDAY, she has another 2 more weeks to go before she gets ANY off days.. yes, she doesn't even have off-days for THREE WEEKS!! And she is not alone.. most of her friends, regardless of where they are posted (Penang, Ipoh, KL, Seberang Perai, etc), are all working such long hours..
We all thought that having endured 7 long years, doing her medical degree in Moscow (one of the unfriendliest and harshest cities for Asians), my sister would have an easier life back in her own country.. It just defies comprehension that with an excess of trainee doctors (that was what the MOH said), they still have to work such long and unforgiving hours.. But again, how could there be an excess of doctors, when the doctor-patient ratio is 1:1105!!! (2008 figures from MOH's website) It is 1:620 in Singapore, even Venezuela, which has similar population size but bigger in land area, has a lower ratio of 1:500 (as of 2005)!!
Another question that comes to mind, Is there a need to put doctors through such torturous 18-hours shifts, with no rest day in between?? If ordinary workers are not supposed to work more than 48 hours A WEEK (without Over Time), what about doctors?? These are the people who deals with HUMAN LIVES, and yet they are not allowed to take enough rest!!?!! No wonder, most doctors (or those capable ones) leave the public sectors and go into private practice or join private hospitals after they get their license to practice.. It is a vicious cycle.. Doctors leave, thus the shortage, thus the long hours.. so why can't the ministry do something to shorten the hours, making hours more bearable for the doctors, and maybe more doctors would stay and thus address the issue of shortages.. All they need is better resource planning.. if the authorities bother to look into this..
Maybe she just need some time to get used to the hellish working hours and "combat-zone"-like working environment.. Maybe she need time to learn to let go of the things she has no control over.. Maybe she would eventually learn to not blame herself for not being able to save every single patients of hers.. But one thing I am sure, my sister will come out stronger (mentally and emotionally) like she always do, and all these will no doubt make her a better doctor...
(Either 1999 or 2000, when we went to visit my brother's Uni campus of UPM)Some background:
HO stands for Health Officer, referring to trainee doctors who are undergoing their compulsory housemanship in hospitals. They will be attached to different departments for 4 months (which is called "rotation"). At the start of each rotation (aka reporting to a new department), they need to work 18-hour shifts EVERYDAY for 2 or 3 weeks STRAIGHT, before settling down into another (supposedly) more humane shift (which I have yet to ask my sister about).. The trainee doctors need to get each departmental heads to sign off before moving on to another department. Minimum duration of housemanship is 2 years, but there are cases of extension..
Once they completed and passed their housemanship, they will be "promoted" to MO, which stands for Medical Officers. The working hours of MO would be much more normal with slightly more rest/off days. She needs to serve as MO for 3 years before she could get her license to practice, else where.
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