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YOURSAY | ‘Politicians, too, have taken an oath to serve the people but...’

Health DG tells contract doctors to remember oath, don’t join strike

Coward: This is the first time I see a senior doctor threatening junior doctors with the Hippocratic oath.

In other countries, senior doctors, especially those in management capacity, will not threaten those going on strike with the Hippocratic oath.

Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah’s reminder is given in his role as a manager and not in his capacity as a physician. If it was, he will ask them to ensure they stay in line with the oath, such as still participating in emergency situations like resuscitating critical patients.

His plea that they don’t strike is from his managerial role. The deliberate blurring of the two is beneath someone holding such high office.

It is also not impossible to reconcile the strike with the Hippocratic oath. The oath is only between the patient and doctor, and has nothing to do with doctors and their managers.

It says “do no harm” - this is commonly interpreted as the physician must do everything in his power to prevent loss of life and make the situation worse by his participation or non-participation.

It says nothing about curing the patient. If it does, it will be very difficult to reconcile that duty with financial reward, especially in the private sector.

A strike is intended to make things difficult for the employer. This is the first time in memory that doctors go on strike in Malaysia. How the strikers manage this is going to determine whether they get public support or not, and they have to tread carefully.

While I don’t expect the DG to support their action, I do expect the DG to behave better than threatening them with the Hippocratic oath.

Falcon: What hypocrisy! Primum non nocere (First, do no harm)? Seriously?

Politics, personal ambition, greed, incompetence, untruths and abuse has destroyed what was once a great healthcare system.

Tertiary service hospitals which took dedication and ages to build are now totally ruined. Serdang, Ampang, Sungai Buloh and Selayang hospitals among them.

Instead of setting up field hospitals, the government should be empowering private sector doctors to manage category 1 to 3 Covid-19 patients within geographical jurisdictions and transferring only category 4 and 5 to specific hospitals.

No, that did not happen. We have instead a clueless administrative and management team, like a runaway train without a driver.

The incompetent Covid-19 response and management are putting frontliners lives at stake, while fools and morons reigned supreme and are playing politics.

And the DG has the gall and audacity to point fingers at these young ones? Please look in the mirror, Noor Hisham. What do you see?

Anonymous3467: This government can spend on futile things like disinfecting roads and overseas travel for ministers during a pandemic, but cannot guarantee the future of doctors. And yet, you still have the cheek to claim that you are taking care of the poor.

Meanwhile, even confirmed doctors in public hospitals have been underpaid for decades. If one calculates their salary per hour, it’s a pittance. That’s how the government has been treating doctors.

OCT: Words of comfort are of no use when job security is at stake. If the PN government was serious in resolving this contract doctors’ problem, it would have been done much, much earlier.

This problem dragged on for many moons because nobody was assigned to look into it. All the government’s ministers were busy looking after themselves.

You can’t really blame them either as they would lose their jobs if the PN government collapses. So, it becomes every person for themselves.

As a result, only half-baked solutions are proposed in times of crisis. No ministers had burnt the midnight oil to brainstorm and work out a win-win situation. It’s always “take it or leave it” for the government, which creates more problems than resolving them.

The PN government doesn’t have the skills to manage any crisis - from the pandemic to contract doctors, from the economy to our crumbling healthcare system. These are signs of a failed state.

VioletPanther3011: All the politicians have also taken an oath to serve the rakyat, not take bribes and be corrupted. Did they follow their oath?

It’s like being generals in a war. The soldiers suffer on the battlefield while the generals sit in their offices and enjoy good meals.

Fair Comments: The government should ask itself whether it has failed these contract doctors. Their request for permanent posts has been ongoing for a few years. It is not as if they have only made the request last week. Hence, there is no excuse for the government to drag their feet.

If the government is sincere, it should come with a legally binding undertaking to give them pensionable permanent positions with effect from a specific date and not to offer more half-baked proposals.

With the power the government has, getting laws/rules changed is only a formality and therefore should not be used as a reason to defer a decision.

MasterConTroller: I stand by my beleaguered colleagues and their decision to strike.

The Hippocratic oath was 2,000 years ago. Back then, they believed that four humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm) influence the body and its emotions. Times have changed.

Fight for your careers, everyone. The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) won’t back you, but people like me do. Don’t let other senior doctors emotionally blackmail you.

No one will take care of you if you become ill. No one will feed your family if you lose your job. No patient is worth permanently sacrificing your physical and mental health for.

There are others that will replace you. We are but cogs in the machine to them. Let them know this cog will go out fighting tooth and limb. - Mkini