What’s Malaysian healthcare system’s most pressing issue?

There was a point in time when my family and I were at the hospital a lot. This was between the time when my grandmother suffered a stroke and the moment she passed away. It was quite a long period that lasted about a decade.

She survived the stroke but had to use a wheelchair. Although nothing serious developed as far as her health was concerned after that, she still had regular hospital visits and sometimes admissions to the ward.

We would all take turns bringing her to the hospital for these visits. And most of the time, although the lines were always long and the wait took quite a while, it was fine.

My late grandmother was a pensioner so she insisted that we bring her to government hospitals, and from our experience, government hospitals were quite good in their treatment of her, both for medical conditions and just treatment in general. Doctors and nurses were always pleasant.

If she went for her normal monthly checkups, we would wake up early in the morning, drive to the hospital and the first thing would be to collect the queue number. Then, instead of waiting at the waiting area, we would head to the cafeteria to have breakfast. There was a stall there that had good chicken rice. The wait usually took a while so there was time for breakfast.

After breakfast, we would stroll back to the waiting area and by then, it would be around 15 minutes before she gets to see the doctor. It wouldn’t be very long with the doctor, maybe half an hour, and we would be done.

Then, we would head to the pharmacy with the prescription. The wait there wasn’t as long as the wait to see the doctor, so we would just chill at the waiting area and once we got the medicine, we would head home or go somewhere for lunch.

If it was a case where my grandmother would have to be admitted, the process would be fairly simple too. We would come in and wait for a bed. Truth be told, sometimes it would take a long time, maybe four to five hours before she gets assigned to a ward. But there are other times when it would take quite fast.

I guess it depends on the situation the hospital is in at the time. Usually, one of us would stay overnight, and we have never faced any rude doctors or nurses throughout.

They were always nice and polite. Sometimes, you could see that they were tired and probably frustrated too. But at the very most, they just don’t talk a lot or smile very little, and that to me is very understandable.

But, as I said, there was never any point where we experienced rudeness. The young ones were always the nicest. Maybe they still have the fresh passion and vigour of someone just entering the career of their choice.

Our public healthcare

In all our experiences at the hospitals, the doctors and nurses were always very attentive and looked like they were truly trying to give their best for my grandmother. If anything, waiting can be quite long.

But it’s the public healthcare system and it’s where most Malaysians turn to when they aren’t well. Not everyone can afford expensive private healthcare. So, the system can face quite a lot of pressure trying to cope with the number of patients that they have to treat.

Can it be improved? Yes, definitely.

In my opinion, one of the first things to be improved is resources. Dedicate more financial resources so that we can increase the number of healthcare staff and also infrastructure.

But it’s a whole long process for this and it can never be fully satisfactory. It’s a permanent work in progress and even the most socialist governments out there face problems like this. It’s just how they manage it as best as they can.

Wait a minute. Was there a problem with the nurses’ uniforms? Did I feel like my faith was challenged and my libido could not be contained the entire time I was visiting the hospitals trying to care for my old grandmother who had suffered a stroke and had to go through ten years of her life in a wheelchair?

Sorry, that thought didn’t enter my mind. I doubt it has entered anybody’s mind when they are at a hospital, and if it does, then something is very wrong with that person. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. The Sheraton Move really frustrated him but maybe after November 2022, he can start feeling better again. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.