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.
