No More Scholarship For Studying Overseas

My title for this entry may sounds harsh and could make any hopeful students worried, but the real situation is actually not that severe. The Public Service Department (PSD) is not entirely stopping giving out their scholarship but their scholarships will be given for those undergraduates who will be studying at local universities or postgraduates studies. If you would like to have a PSD scholarship at undergraduate level, you must get an offer from top universities in the world such as Harvard, Cambridge or Oxford, which I doubt will be easy as other foreign universities due to their extreme high standards and quota.

The original article can be found here.

Now, let us reflect this kind of action taken by the current government. Is is fair to stop giving out scholarships to study abroad? I mean, the scholarships are actually taxes payed diligently by citizens of Malaysia every year. So, is it fair for the government to handle the people's money this way? Is this action considered as depriving the bright children from getting better quality of education abroad?

Every year, about 1500 bright students will get the PSD scholarship to study abroad. But it seems that this number is not enough as we will always see complaints from unsatisfied parents who thinks that their child supposed to get it. To tell you the truth, I think this incidence will happen every year because the number of 'intelligent' students are increasing day by day - blame it on the advanced technology and workbooks! 'Intelligent' here for me actually refers to student nowadays who are just memorizing past years questions and then expect to get an 'A' for every subjects. Not much of a thinker. So, let's just stop the scholarship and no one will get to study abroad. And no students who just memorized all their way get to fly overseas. It's much fairer that way.

And then, people might say that the number of universities in Malaysia is not enough. I think now there are many universities in our own country who could cater the needs of education for our own students. Lets say that most of the students in this nation wants to read medicine. Before this, there were only like 5 universities which offer this course, thus places are limited and highly competitive. But now, there are more medical schools than that - we now have IMU, CUCMS, MSU, AIMST and much more. Hence, the number of places is not a problem anymore.

There are still out there who might associates studying in a foreign university with a much more glamorous status. Yes, I admit studying oversea brings much attention to me. But that is only if this case is being looked by lay-minded people. The new generations now must have been aware that it doesn't matter where your degree comes from, but it is the passion and desire in the profession that matters. Maybe this action of stopping giving out the scholarships will shattered the dreams of many students who dreamt of playing snow during winter or travel around Europe, but it is for the betterment of the future. Besides, if you want to play in the snow, or go on a eurotrip, you can always do that whenever you have worked. It's much more worth it. Trust me ;)

Don't Tell Anybody

Sometimes, our heart is longing something that we will never get.

Finally, I'm Home

It has been 3 days since the moment I step my foot back in my beloved home. I finally got to fulfill my cravings for a 'roti canai' in a mamak stall for breakfast, eat my mum's cookings and assimilate with the hot and humid weather of Malaysia. Probably, if I'm lucky enough, I'll get tan a little bit. So far, so good.

As it is also a time for school holidays, a lot of wedding ceremonial events are taking place and many invitations needs to be attend. In my large family, two of my closest cousins are not going to miss this opportunity as they will be getting married and lead on a more prosperous life with their new spouses. Well, I have actually missed one of them because I was still in Manchester. Guess there's only one left and it looks like I have lend a hand in helping the preparation.

I am aware that in my comfortable state at home, there are still lots of my friends who are still struggling doing revisions and practicing for their exams. Honestly, there are some feelings and desire inside of me to upload some nice and tasty pictures of me in Malaysia that would make them jealous. But, I keep refraining myself from doing that to avoid from any harm that would effect them mentally (nasib baik korg - apip dgn klone :p)

And not to forget for the person who will be having the biggest exam in the year. All the best and may Allah help you in answering all the exams questions that will be asked to you. Good luck!!

How Things Are So Far

It's pretty weird why I always have the urge and idea to write an entry in my blog whenever I am doing my revisions at the University Place. Well, here I am, rummaging through my books, feeling lethargic and it's like my mind can't take in anymore information. I need a rest for a while now. Besides, our brain can't work non-stop and need some rest to re-energize. Even machines would eventually break down if it is being use continously.

So far, my academic life here has gone as 'normally' as a student should have. Exams are only making things worst. I'm not blaming the exams because I know exams are important to assess what we have learned so far. But due to the amount of workload and pressure from sponsor that is mounting up, I need to get hold of myself and face the upcoming exams, prepared. I have just finished one paper of my semester exams, which means there will be another more paper and one oral presentation. Hope everything goes well and I won't startle too much during the presentation.

Another thing is that I think I have become an 'outcast' here in Manchester. It's not because I have done something wrong or anything bad. It's just that I have been spending too much time alone (sometimes being accompanied) in my room or my 'private study room' for revisions which kinda isolates me from my other friends. I usually rejects any offers to play sports and to hang around with my friends. I even barely see any sunshine nowadays!!

Honestly, I can't wait for the summer holidays to come!! I will be flying back home to Malaysia on the 3th of June and spend a relaxing 2 months of holidays there. Lots of trips and meetings have been planned before hand for the whole study-free holidays. One thing for sure is that I'm going to meet most of my schoolmates, friends from college and the special person in my life. We are gonna have a blast!! And there's nothing more that I could ask for than that. :)

Malaysians Do Got Talent

Between our study group sessions a few days ago, Wahida showed me a really cool and catchy song by someone called Mizz Nina and in the song, she featured a very big singer and discographer named Colby O'Donis. To be frank, I really don't prefer disco songs compared to other genres of music. But, I have to make an exception for this one. I love this song at the first moment I heard it.

Then, I began to do some research on the girl who sang this song. To my surprise, she is actually a Malaysian and she was a former member of a famous hip hop group called Teh Tarik Crew. Mentioning the name of this group really brings back the memory when I was in high school. Well, maybe this group is not as famous as Too Phat but some of their songs are quite good and well worth to hear. It's just that maybe there were not so many people who fancy their songs which causes the group to split up and follow their own paths.

It had really caught my attention how a Malysian artist could work together with a very well-known singer and discographer in the world. I mean, Colby O'Donis is very popular in the music industry and he have been asked to be a featured artist with big names such as Lady Gaga (Just Dance) and Akon (What You Got). Now, he's singing with a Malaysian artist! I don't know who approached who to produce this song but their duet is really awesome! Try check out the video above!

p/s: Credits again to Wahida for introducing this song to me. If not, this song won't exist in my iTunes as today. :p

Why We Left And Why We Will Continue To Leave

I recently found an interesting article in the online newspaper, The Star, about a doctor's work life in Malaysia. Just thought that I might share it with my fellow medics friends. This blog gave a picture from an experienced doctor point of view, who is clearly being dismayed by the healthcare system in our country. Maybe after reading this article, you guys should have a rough idea on your future in this profession and how we can together improve this damaged system.



I read an interesting article today about a few prominent figures addressing their concern over the increasing UKM and UM medical graduates who have left the country to continue their medical practice overseas.

After reading the news for 3 times, I called a very close friend, an MD (UKM) graduate to ask his opinion on how the news might have affected him. He has been working in Singapore for more than a decade as a Consultant Surgeon with a certain sub-specialty

"Why be a slave in your own country, when you are a king in another?" He replied.

Indeed, if anybody would want to find a reason why all of us left, either after housemanship, after being a specialist, or even after sub specializing, and now, even prior to doing housemanship, they need not look at our payslip, or the wealth that we have gained overseas, but only to the Medical System that has been rotting in the ignorance and politic-based stupidity that Malaysia has been well-known for (in the medical field).

I have served the system for nearly 2 decades of my career, waiting for it to improve for so long, and only finding myself in despair, quitting with a 24-hour notice and serving abroad. The system is, in my opinion, keeping doctors, since the beginning of their career as House Officers to the end of it, in the lowermost priority. When I was working there, doctors are so ill-treated, while the nurses and the medical assistants are overpowering us.

I still remember the days when I was doing seeing patients and rounds as an MO, while the staff nurses would mind their own business, having breakfast in the pantry, or having gossip chats at their own leisure. My House Officers would then have to do merely all the labour-work, up to the extent of setting intravenous drips, and serving medications. If I am to expect the nurses, my patients would have been dead, or the work would have been too slowly or incompletely done.

When I was a House Officer, I had to run down 4-5 floors just to review a blood investigation of a dying dengue patient. The ward staff would either be nowhere around, or will say that he is busy (busier than the doctor?) or the answer I got at that time:

"Doktor nak cepat, doktor turun sendirilah, gaji doktor lagi banyak dari saya"

Even when I was a Specialist, the staff nurses had to be called again and again just to make sure the management plan for the patient would be done. I was already used to answers from them:

“I’m busy with something else"

“My shift is already over"

...it was routine for me.

The Medical Assistants were worse. They would hide behind their so-called boss, the Head of Medical Assistant. They feel hiding behind him would make them not under our jurisdiction, that we have no power to instruct them in managing the patient, that they have power to manage own their own. I've seen them giving medications not as we prescribed, performing procedures without our knowledge, as if they are the actual "Doctors". They are in their own world, and we have to do their job, taking blood, labelling samples, and even cleaning gadgets from the procedures that we have done.

Oh, but the ministry loves this group. They even let them run a clinic now, instead of upgrading the clinics already run by doctors. The government feels that the MAs are very important and should never be ill-treated by those big bad doctors. One time when I was a District Hospital Medical Officer, I was conducting a delivery of a baby. An MA insisted that I remove my car which was block-parking his car. I answered through the phone that I was busy.

He came to the labor room and yelled "Semua orang pun sibuk jugak, macamlah doktor seorang yang sibuk!”

It is insulting that an MA or a staff nurse claims that they are BUSY, as busy as a doctor? As a Malaysian Doctor, I have even worked for 72 hours straight. I have experienced working until my 6 month old daughter did not recognize me at the end of the week.

Is that how busy they are? I am very sure that they are so busy, that they can only spend 2 hours at the nearby Mamak stall, or can only leave at 5:10 PM instead of 5, or can only have 1 hour of lunch.

The management staffs are worse. I have to beg and plead so that I can get my on-call claims, of RM25 per 48 hours of work. While sitting in an air-conditioned office, they will at their own leisure, process my call claims so that I will receive them by the next decade.

The state health or Hospital Director would just give another inspirational talk (of bollocks) on team effort and beauty of teamwork.

That is how Malaysian doctors are treated in the government sector: without respect, without dignity and without significance. Why?

It is because we are bound by ethics to try our best to save lives, despite how ill-treated we are. We hardly have time to complaint because we are too busy or tired, and we would rather spend the precious time resting or seeing our loved ones. The burden of trying to save lives is on our shoulders alone. No MAs or Staff nurses would shoulder it with us. They have their own bosses: the Sisters, Matrons, or Head of MAs, which job description is to ensure that the big bad doctors will not ask their underlings to do extra work.

This is how the Malaysian Ministry of Health have treated their doctors. I am very sure that in each and every doctor, there is a slowly-burning patience in serving the Malaysian people, which will eventually fade and cause them to surrender to serving a place that treats them better.

A few colleagues who graduated from UK choose to serve there:

"The pay is more, and we get the respect we deserve"

Another works in Brunei:

“Here the staff nurses respect Malaysian doctors, and they are very co-operative" (He ended up marrying one)

A few are consultants in Singapore (working with me):

"Here we are treated well, we spearhead the management, and every else do their work to the best of their capabilities".

A few even enjoys working in Indonesia:

“The work-load is horrible since there are a lot of patients, but we are well respected by every hospital personnel" (They have migrated there for nearly a decade)

I am sure that people will see doctors as power-hungry individuals who want to be the boss in the hospital. Trust me, after having graduated 6-7 years of medical school, earning a DEGREE, and subsequently MASTERS, and SUBSPECIALITY, you would expect a degree of respect and being considered important. We are trying our best to improve patient's quality of life, or making sure he lives another day. Is it too much to ask from the system that we are important?

I find that Malaysia is the only country that is making doctors' lives miserable and treated like rubbish. It was never about the pay in the first place. It is about the treatment we are getting and the false political-based promises. Do you know that the so-called circular about doctors can have the day off after working 24 hours straight released JULY 2009 is not yet implemented? Do you know that the raise of UD 41 to 44 does not involve every doctor in the government service?

We are waiting for improvement. We have waited a long time when we were working in the system. Somewhere along the line we decided to leave and wait outside the system. Until the system changes, we will continue to work overseas, in countries which are appreciative of us. Trust me, Malaysian-graduate doctors are considered highly skilful and competent in neighbouring countries, and the 15 % brain drain is more significant than you think.

We will return when the system prioritize us and gives us the quality of life we deserve.

If it stays the same, Malaysian Hospitals would end up having Staff nurses and Medical Assistants as "Doctors", and we would have to send patients to Indonesia for an appendicectomy.

Hear our voice. We hardly speak, but will usually fade away from conflict (and fly to another place).

posted by: MS Mohamad

The original article can be found here.

Chicken Tikka BBQ

I have learned something new today - how to marinate a chicken. I was supposed to marinate and grilled about 100 pieces of chicken for the Farewell Party. Grilling a chicken is no problem to me but marinating a chicken is. Therefore, I have asked opinions for recipes from some of my friends on how to do this and I ended up combining all of their ideas and make it more simple.

The ingredients are very easy to obtained and can be found in any grocery stores. They are - chicken, natural yoghurt, chicken tikka powder, olive oil and salt. If you guys can't find the chicken tikka BBQ powder in your nearest store, you can replace it with curry or tumeric powder.

The recipe are as follow:

• Place a natural low fat yoghurt into a container
• Pour in the Chicken Tikka BBQ powder
• Put in some salt and olive oil (depending on the amount of your chicken)
• Stir it well (it's better to use your hands)
• Leave it for about at least an hour
• Put your marinated chicken in the fridge to get better results and taste

Then, it's off to the oven. Cook it for about 40 minutes until the outer part of the chicken turns dark brown. Ideally, it is best to barbeque these marinated chickens outdoor to get its exquisite taste after beinq barbequed with heat from charcoals.

Me washing the chickens

Apip, Bat and Mursyid giving me a hand (or hands)

Grilling the chicken

The end results - deliciously looking good

I know the recipe I suggested here is kind of very simple and vague. Be sure to alter it according to tour needs. That's all for now. See ya!!