GEORGE TOWN – Penang government leaders have taken to social media to express their concern over the tragedy that befell a Penang Hospital houseman who died suddenly due to a “fall” from a building.
With allegations arising of tough working conditions and harsh treatment meted out by seniors on junior doctors, they are asking the Health Ministry (MoH) to look into the matter of ensuring better working conditions at public healthcare facilities.
The young doctor apparently fell from an office building in Jalan Datuk Keramat and police have classified the case as sudden death.
This is the second reported death of a junior doctor at the hospital in less than two years.
Penang health executive councillor Dr Norlela Ariffin said she hopes the state health department’s deputy director and the state psychiatry authorities will shed more light on the case – as well as on the working experiences of doctors at Penang Hospital and facilities elsewhere in the state – after Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations are over.
She added that she sent The Vibes’ report yesterday on the death of the houseman to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, MoH administrators and Pakatan Harapan’s health committee.
She lamented that she was doing this because the officials “don’t take this seriously enough”.
Dr Norlela stressed that she was raising concerns about “illogical, inhumane working hours” faced by housemen in view of the experience of her own family member in Malaysia which employees in other sectors would never be subjected to.
“She experienced 27 accidents because she was extremely tired and Alhamdulillah survived. Her friend died,” said Norlela, who is PKR’s assemblyman for Penanti.
‘Rite of passage’ used as an excuse
Dr Norlela also recalled a previous incident where another doctor killed himself.
“But the response I get from MoH administrators, including politicians, is that all doctors have to go through this rite of passage. It’s like an accepted culture in the medical profession,” she said.
Since my daughter-in-law has worked for almost three years at the trauma ICU of a hospital in the UK, she’s so, so much happier with the humane work-life conditions,” she said on Facebook today.
She took the authorities to task for attributing the problem of overwork to inadequate manpower while many medical graduates cannot get positions and are forced to wait for a long time for work.
“It does not make sense for MoH to allow this to go on when doctors need to make life-and-death decisions while treating patients in this kind of working condition,” she said.
In December 2020, The Vibes reported that another doctor who had resigned from the same hospital had died suddenly.
The incident triggered an outcry among his colleagues, who wanted the authorities to seriously look into the matter instead of dismissing it as a “common” issue.
Several doctors, who preferred to remain anonymous, said bullying in the medical fraternity is a pervasive problem.
Northeast district police head Soffian Santong has confirmed the latest incident, saying that the initial investigation centred on sudden death.
Contacted by The Vibes, he did not rule out the possibility of the case being reclassified if fresh evidence comes to light.
Dreams of parents who invested in son’s education shattered
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said that despite the label of “sudden death”, there must be investigations into what led to it.
He said it cannot be dismissed as sudden death because there are allegations involving the bullying and harassment of trainee doctors at Penang Hospital.
He claimed that this is a convenient way of stopping a full-scale investigation which might implicate the administration of the entire hospital.
“The parents of the young dead doctor are in a situation of disbelief,” he said on Facebook.
They had spent nearly RM400,000 of their hard-earned (money) to educate the son so that he will become a good doctor and responsible citizen of the country. Their dreams have been shattered.”
“If the manner and nature of training is not addressed, more unfortunate incidents can be expected,” he said, stressing that he has heard numerous accounts of how trainee doctors are treated.
He likened it to ragging that usually happens in student hostels. “At the hospitals, trainees have to work long hours, shouted at by their senior doctors, including the nurses, and left to fend for themselves without what is needed in training,” he said.
“I understand that there is no training in the medical sense, but a kind of regimental training where they are scolded, shouted at as though the aim was to break their spirit before confession. A kind of police or military interrogation of criminals or spies.
“The trainee doctors are young, whose parents had spent their life savings for their medical education, but what do they get in return?
Is it a surprise why these doctors go to the private sector as soon as they finish their term in the government or open private clinics?”
Ramasamy added that trainee doctors should be trained and counselled by senior doctors to the best of their ability and knowledge.
Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim Chee Keong also spoke out on Facebook about the alleged sudden death of the doctor, noting that this is the second case in two years here.
“This is no time to be secretive over the matter,” said Sim.
He said the relevant authorities need to investigate claims that there might be tough working conditions at hospitals. – The Vibes, May 4, 2022
