“Cheapskate crackers” for overworked, underpaid gov’t docs sparks debate; unappreciated or entitled lot?

 

ACCORDING to the Cambridge Dictionary, the idiom ‘taking the biscuit’ mean being in an annoying or surprising situation which is the worst of its kind.

This explains the exasperated tone expressed by former journo and editor Joe Lee (@iamjoelee) in a recent post on X which accused the Health Ministry (MOH) of treating public medical practitioners shoddily.

Sharing a post by one Dr Chok Jun Hong that focused on doctor’s gossiping about their morning meals at their respective workplaces, one ranted that a government hospital in Kuala Lumpur provided measly rations.  

Grumblings about “not enough jam” and image of basic cracker biscuits for staff at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital were also appended to paint a picture of toil and unimaginable hardship.

“Why can’t they at least provide food similar to patients” was the plea here.

This scenario was compared and contrasted to another doctor working abroad who was seemingly pampered with a lavish breakfast spread personally prepared by the clinic admin before starting the clinic. 

Hence the perception of Joe Lee is such that the MOH has yet again let overworked Malaysian public health practitioners down with the long line of negative  news already tarnishing its image.

Unimpressed, the co-founder of @MadoukOnlline asked incredulously, “Seriously-lah @KKMPutrajaya ???!!! Is this how you treat our doctors???”

The post has generated 724.9K views at time of publication. However, not everyone was enamoured with the plight of these doctors. 

Public doctors are spoilt brats?

One non-plussed commenter simply told the doctors to simply be grateful they have a job. Many others don’t and are literally starving. “Getting free food and still want to complain,” he admonished.

It was also pointed out by an employee in the private sector that they, too, made do with basic amenities at their workplaces. The fancy stuff only gets wheeled out for special events, meetings and celebrations.

“Were other public servants privy to free grub?” queried this puzzled observer. Pantry and sleeping quarters are made available for hospital staff comfort but this lady drew the line at preparing food and drink for the doctors.

This disgruntled commenter was quite put off by the fact that highly-paid doctors could NOT afford to buy their own food. “Everything also wants to complain.”

On the flipside, there were those who thought that those mandated to take care of public health should be treated with a little bit more compassion and empathy.

Surely RM3 nasi lemak could be budgeted for these doctors who sacrifice so much for the country, surmised this reasonable citizen while tagging the MOH for good measure.

A mortified commenter recounted hearing of poor famished public sector doctors who had to ask the dinner lady if there was any extra for the doctors. “Pity them” was the simple conclusion here. 

“Underpaid and overworked.” This was the lot of government doctors who should be appreciated a bit better than with measly food rations surmised this commenter. 

However, one sceptical citizen opined that the budget to feed government doctors was probably enough to include “a fancy salad and croissant” but due to continuous sub-contracting, the end result is packet of dry biscuits after everyone has had their slice of the pie. 

As can be seen from the comments, there is quite the split in opinions.

On the one hand, surely, well-paid medical professionals can afford to pay for their own meals. No other civil servants seem to think they are entitled to such privileges. What makes doctors so special?

On the other, Malaysians, literally, depend of these doctors on matters of life and death. Surely it isn’t too much to ask that they are properly fed and nourished to be able to perform their highly stressful vocations. –  Focus Malaysia