Doctors at SGH were told to be Gentle & Polite towards Patients

Medical doctors when taking on the job know that they had ethics to follow. Being a doctor is considered an honorable job. Unfortunately, there are doctors at the Sarawak General Hospital whose attitude towards patients at times is not that honorable.

Jikawa anak Rumit has that experience on June 15. He had a fall sometime end of May, 2012 and was brought to the Emergency and Accident department, Sarawak General hospital for an X-ray. The trip to the hospital did not end his agony as he was asked to wait for more than four hours and given a verbal lashing by the doctor.

Jikawa’s colleague, Tham came to see me as he was appalled by such treatment to people in pain.

Tham had gone with Jikawa and waited for him. It took hours for Jikawa to be X-rayed, to wait to see the doctor, to get scolded by the doctor and to wait for his medication. Tham hoped that such treatment to patients should be stopped. 

I know that the A & E unit in the Sarawak General Hospital is always packed to the brim. When a person took on the job as a doctor, he should know that the job requires him to be gentle and caring with the patient. No one wants to go to the hospital for no good reason.

I understand the A & E department medical staff is over-worked. But that did not give them the reason or excuse to give the patient more ‘pain’ with verbal scolding or rough treatment. The patients were there to seek treatment for their ailments and pain, not a tongue lashing included.

The hospital authority should take it out with the Ministry to ensure there are enough doctors and medical support staff instead of making an excuse year in and out that they had shortage of staff. This problem should be solved long ago. So forget the excuse and get something done.