I wonder if most people realize that government hospitals in Malaysia don’t allow their patients to keep their own MRI films which makes seeking a second opinion very hard for the patient. If the attending doctor does not completely disclose results to the patient when she asks, there is little that she can do.
I was very fortunate to have the assistance of KLGH’s Chief Neurosurgeon Mr. Saffari Bin Haspani in 2004 who allowed me to ’borrow’ my own brain MRIs, mail them to Dr. Friedman in the U.S. and only return the films after my surgery at the end of the year. Mr. Saffari readily admitted that he couldn’t remove the residuals of my right-sided Acoustic Neuroma and supported my initiative of going to the U.S.
But not every neurosurgeon in public service is as open-minded as Mr. Saffari.
I hope to see and thank him personally someday.
If we want to have control over our healthcare, it may be wiser to pay more and have our MRI done at private hospitals.
Yvonne, My sister works in government hospital. She is having the same attitude like the doctor you mentioned. We cant commented about the hospital or the doctors!! She will go all way out to protect them! For example, my other sister had an ear infection because the nurse / doc checked on her and left some cotton buds inside that caused the infection. But she insisted that the doctor n nurse dis nothing wrong!!
Joanne: I’m sorry to hear what happened. Infection should not be taken lightly. Same goes for the cause of infection. If the doctor maintains that he or she did nothing wrong, then he must be able to offer an explanation.
Have you got a chance to read this post on Kenny Sia’s blog? http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2010/08/finding-a-cure.php
Look how quickly some people felt the pinch on themselves when Kenny remarked about the situation at SGH when he visited.
I also notice that once some people start to work in government hospitals, they start to defend and make excuses for it. Before they started, they had lots to complain.
what’s the reasoning behind that? is it because the patient is not paying for it?
another ridiculous rule.
Totally agree with you.. There was once, I went for see Dr. Ng ( govt hosp ) for my MRI report..After waiting for one hour, the nurse told me that he was on leave!! The nurse even say this..~ Orang kaya, lagi nak datang sini tengok doktor ! pergi private la!`
It’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome — where hostages mistake the lack of abuse by their captors as an act of kindness.
When push comes to shove, Malaysians tend to justify ill treatment in one of two ways. ‘Our health system is better than Saudi Arabia’ or ‘Even the health system in Australia has problems.’
Little wonder, then, that Malaysia scored 33 out of 40 in a recent worldwide survey that analysed how well countries treat the critically ill.
Things won’t change so long as people remain so arrogant and stubborn.
Zewt: Maybe the government is afraid that patients will misplace their own films if they are allowed to keep the films. If the patient loses the films, she will have to do a repeat MRI and this may be taken as a waste of public resources.
But whenever I visited KLGH to see the Neurosurgeon, it took the medical aids ten thousand years to search for my films in their storeroom. With the amount of patients they see everyday with each patient having at least one or two thick stacks of MRI, they have to hire many medical aids. The aids were too often seen just sitting around.
So who is wasting public funds?
Joanne: Dr. Ng at KLGH? Mom and I encountered that as well. After waiting for an hour or so, we were told that the doctor was on leave or in surgery. I believe this may be a major communication problem between the hospital staffs. We used to wake up early in the morning, travel all the way from Subang Jaya to HKL along Jalan Pahang and wait for an hour or more only to be told that the doctor was unavailable. We felt that we have wasted so much time and money on the trip yet we did not get the see the doctor.
I go to Assunta Hospital for tests nowadays. It doesn’t cost much to see the Neurologist for tests. Both the government and I can save money in the long-run.
I think the government should let patients take responsibility of ourselves. Let us keep our films. Trust us. It’s like children. We can’t expect children to learn independence if we don’t want to trust them in the first place.
John Ling: Stockholm Syndrome. The captives come to identify with their captors and become like their captors too.