GEORGE TOWN – The troubles faced by junior doctors in government service, such as harassment, ill-treatment and outright overwork, are now being brought further to the fore by victims in the profession, who are finally voicing out their grievances.
A doctor in his 30s who underwent his housemanship at Penang Hospital related his experiences to The Vibes, claiming that racism and discrimination based on stature are widespread in the institution.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that those from a particular community enjoy privileges and are treated with kindness by seniors from the same community.
Housemen who are from the particular community and speak the same language are taken care of by medical officers (MOs) who belong to the same community, he added.
“These MOs, who also trained other housemen from different communities, gave negative remarks in their assessment of the ‘others’, even in the reports that were submitted to the specialists.
“The specialists who have no knowledge of this ‘special treatment’ to some group will follow the remarks given by the MO.
“If the MO does not like you, you would probably get your training period extended at the same department. The specialist who does not know you will follow the MO’s remarks because they don’t have time to listen to the housemen one by one,” he told The Vibes.
The doctor, who graduated from an Indonesian university, is now an MO himself at a government hospital elsewhere in the country.
He claimed that during ward rounds, the MOs would speak in their own mother tongue, which only a particular group of people understood. The other housemen would need to ask those who understood what transpired to translate for them.
I still remember after I was on call, a MO told me that if I had died that day, I would be easily replaced.”
“A contract houseman is like a welcome doormat. No junior doctor wants to hear such remarks from a senior doctor,” the doctor said.
He added that MOs would often look down on graduates from universities in countries like Indonesia, Russia, Bangladesh, Poland and Indonesia, while graduates from reputable institutions like the University of Malaya, Manipal University, Monash University and the International Medical University receive special treatment.
“Basically all housemen are supposed to be treated the same. However, graduates from selected universities got special treatment. This meant that mismanagement by the ‘privileged’ would be ignored or covered up, and they were passed in the assessments,” he said.
The doctor alleged that he was victimised by the administration, which would credit his salary later compared with other housemen. He was also transferred to a different hospital, where he again encountered the problem of delayed payment.
He added that he and his colleagues were insulted many times and called vulgar names. This would happen whenever they were unable to answer questions or come up with proper documentation, and they would even be shouted at in front of patients at the ward.
“The treatment often results in housemen questioning themselves whether it is their fault or if it is the MO’s mood swings.
“Some housemen who were sensitive to such treatment were referred to as snowflakes or softies,” the doctor added.
“They are smart but not good at confronting such criticism. So they often broke down easily and it was not a one-time thing. This happened in a cycle, meaning that the MOs would target you on a daily basis for a few weeks,” he said.
The depressed houseman, who sought psychiatric help just to cope with the level of stress, said he had to face “repercussions” from his superiors.
The housemen want a break from all this hatred. They should not feel useless,” the doctor stressed.
“It is not just the RM500,000 the family spent for the education and for the degree, but it is also our entire youth spent in getting the degree. So when such (harsh) treatment was spewed at us we could not help but take it personally,” he added.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently announced that an independent task force will be set up to investigate the sudden death of the Penang houseman who died after falling from a building, and also allegations of a bullying culture in the healthcare fraternity.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah chimed in on Twitter, saying that the ministry is awaiting the post-mortem report and chemistry results.
He also weighed in on the alleged bullying culture, saying it “is wrong and cannot be tolerated anywhere, especially in hospitals”.
Bullying culture is wrong and cannot be tolerated anywhere, especially in hospitals. We are awaiting for the police investigation to conclude and the post-mortem report including the chemistry results.
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) May 6, 2022
In December 2020, The Vibes reported that another young doctor who had resigned from the same hospital had allegedly committed suicide.
In a statement yesterday, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai said that the independent task force should look into all contributing stress factors in the healthcare system.
“This task force should look into the whole training system and other causes of stress related to work which is not only seen among the house officers but also at other senior levels,” he said.
“MMA has worked with the ministry throughout the years to look at the grouses among the healthcare personnel, and there has been progress on this,” he added.
“We cannot deny that some cases of bullying have not been resolved satisfactorily, and therefore an independent body will be useful in such cases.” – The Vibes, May 8, 2022.
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