Patients await their turn to receive treatment at Tawau Health Clinic Type 2 in Jalan Datuk Chong Thien Vun, Sin Onn. — Bernama file photo
KUALA LUMPUR: It was the Tuesday morning a week after Hari Raya Haji. The Radiotherapy and Oncology Clinic at a government hospital in the Klang Valley was unusually packed with patients.
I thought it was perhaps because not many appointments could be fulfilled during the week of the celebration, thus it was pushed forward to the following week.
There were not enough seats for the hundreds of people in there. Many stood, some lay stretched out on gurneys and some waited patiently in wheelchairs. Others leaned wearily against the wall.
I was there to bring my mother for a follow-up treatment at the clinic. We tried to find a space to stand among the crowd. Our number was 9015 while the number being served then was 9007. It was only nine numbers away from my mother’s turn, but I knew the wait could be as long as five hours. Perhaps even longer, judging from the influx of patients that day.
The waiting game
I tried to take my mind off the long wait ahead by browsing the net on my mobile phone.
However, I could not help but overhear the conversation between three women near me. They too seem to be doing their best to pass the time by discussing a number of topics. They talked about durian, their diseases, their exercise regime and exchanged health tips.
As time went by, I realised that the conversation was no longer as lively. As more time passed, they became quiet.
I could see the tension in their demeanor as they saw the number of the screen had barely moved.
“It’s almost noon,” one of them remarked.
“I had been here since 7am. When are they going to call up my number?”
It cannot be denied that the chief complaints on government hospitals tended to be the waiting time. Angry patients, often tired of waiting, accuse government hospital staff of being lazy and ill tempered. They complain that the number of doctors on duty did not correspond with the many treatment rooms.
However, during my wait, I saw that that the doctors and nurses hardly had time to take a breather. As they were bustling about handling patients, the doors to the clinic busted open. Two male hospital staff hurried in carrying a stretcher to one of the treatment rooms.
It then came to our understanding that in addition to the unusually large number of patients that day, there was also an emergency case requiring the attendance of many specialist doctors.
Cheap, good service
Those who have sought eye treatment at a certain government hospital may be well aware of the number of patients each day, that some of them even end up sitting on the floor outside the clinic.
Why is the situation as such?
It is because of the extremely low fee charged for the opportunity to consult with experienced doctors, receive thorough service and use of state-of-the-art facilities. So why then are we still complaining about the waiting time? It is small trade-off for the quality of service we are receiving.’
If we could, for a moment, imagine just how many patients a doctor had to see a day based on the packed waiting rooms. Then, imagine the time needed to deal with a patient, to explain their condition, to answer queries, to convince that a medication needed to be taken.
If a patient had to go for a blood test or further screening on that day, a specialist would then have to avail himself to explain the results to the patient.
Factor in also the time needed to go through a patient’s records so that the best course of treatment can be decided. This is why it can take more than 15 minutes for a doctor to see a patient. If a government doctor were to cut down on his consultation time with a patient, then people would start complaining that the doctors do not really bother with their patient.
Thus, is it fair for us to compare the waiting time at a public hospital than that at a private one? It is common knowledge that the hefty charges at private practices is why the waiting line is not as long there.
It also makes me wonder why anyone would complain about the response time for emergency cases at government hospital. Once, while accompanying my mother to her scheduled cataract surgery, we were told that the operation would have to be postponed. It was to make way for the emergency surgery of a boy whose eye had been hit by a golf ball.
Barely time to eat
In the course of regularly bringing my mother to public hospitals for treatment, I cannot help but notice how weary and disheveled the doctors sometimes looked.
I once observed a doctor at his desk wolfing down his meal in the few minutes he had before being called to see patients. He barely took a sip of his drink before he was called up, so he took the glass with him as he rushed to one of the wards.
I was with my mother, who was warded at the time, so I knew that the doctor had been working since early that morning. At 10pm, as I was about to lay down next to my mother’s bed, I noticed that he had yet to go home. When I awoke at 4.30am to go to the toilet, I saw that he was still making rounds.
“Doctor, go back and get changed,” I once heard the nurses call out to a male doctor who was still wearing yesterday’s shirt.
So do they ever get to take a break? I have caught them showing signs of weariness throughout the day but they kept their smile and soldiered on. All so that they could continue to serve the public. It cannot be denied that there are one or two black sheep among them, but we cannot judge the rest by just a few bad apples.
Instead of complaining, perhaps it would do good for us to give these hardworking medical staff a word of thanks. — Bernama