Apologise to our nurses, our heroes

 

From Dr RA Lingeshwaran

I read with utter disgust what a member of Parliament said while debating the health white paper in the Dewan Rakyat a few days ago. Kuantan MP Wan Razali Wan Nor, from PAS, commented that the nurses’ uniform was “tight and too sexy”.

That, in his opinion, allowed the uniform to reveal their body shape and thus, made it non-shariah compliant.

Let me share a bit of my experience accumulated while working with the health ministry for 11 years, culminating in my becoming the director of Sungai Bakap Hospital.

The current nurses’ uniform design under the health ministry is a phase 3 transformation to suit the identity of a Malay-Muslim nurse.

This design, which was introduced in 2001, incorporates easy-to-roll sleeves to facilitate hand hygiene practices. Besides the accommodation of religion, the accommodation of culture is also evident.

Options were given for nurses who are mainly involved in administrative work to wear ankle-length skirts which look similar to the traditional Malay straight-cut skirt called sarong.

A trial involving different headscarves worn over the top attire was implemented but was reverted after a two-year period to the tuck-in headscarves because of infection control practice as there were times when the dangling headscarves touched the patients’ faces and body parts during direct patient care.

Research in Indonesia on nurses’ uniforms also suggested that tuck-in headscarves were preferred for patient safety concerns with reported incidents of the nurses’ veil directly blocking their visual field when giving infusion.

Nurses in Malaysian public hospitals adhere to a strict uniform code which is also in compliance with Infection Prevention & Control acts and rules.

Nurses in Malaysia do God’s work.

They not only nurse the sick, but they also have to feed the medication, change the soiled diapers, turn and carry the patients who are unconscious, and, in cases of emergency, have to jump on patients who are in need of resuscitation.

All these while wearing their uniform.

Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system. They form the single largest unit in any public hospital.

Our ratio of nurses per population is low, at one nurse to 300 population, which is far from the OECD average of 1:113 population.

This severe burden increases the workload on our nurses and they also have to bear the brunt of criticism and harassment from patients as well as next of kin when they are unable to fulfill their overloaded demands.

I have personally seen nurses working double shifts, rushing to transfer patients to other hospitals, and then rushing back to nurse the patients in the ward in an almost back-breaking manner.

As a former hospital director, I have witnessed some of them working without leave, coming to work the whole month, unable to return to their kampungs to visit their ill loved ones, and unable to see their spouse and kids, all because they are fulfilling their spiritual obligation of service to mankind.

I am not sure what was on the Kuantan MP’s mind when he spoke in the Dewan Rakyat on the issue. I would have the greatest respect for him if he spoke on nurses’ welfare instead.

If he had fought for more placement of nurses in understaffed hospitals, he would have earned a pat on his back.

Had he fought for nurses to be promoted quicker rather than wait 13 years just to advance one grade, he would have endeared himself to our nursing fraternity.

Had he brought up the issue of community nurses having to wait three years to be appointed as full-fledged staff nurses after obtaining the necessary qualifications, he would have been a hero.

Had he gone to hospitals and given the nurses chocolates and roses for the duty they performed for his loved ones and his constituents, he would have been the darling MP in their eyes.

I would like to call upon YB Wan Razali Wan Nor to openly apologise to all Malaysians, especially nurses, considering how some of them are on the verge of giving up their jobs.

If you cannot empathise with them, please do not pass unsavoury comments. If you have nothing good to say, do not say anything at all.

For these are the nurses who will care for you and your loved ones in times of your greatest need.

Our nurses, our future, our heroes. - FMT

Dr RA Lingeshwaran is a senator and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.