NGV blast

SUBANG JAYA: An NGV-powered Proton Waja exploded in the car park at an apartment in Serdang Jaya yesterday, killing its driver and destroying three other vehicles.

K. Mailvaganan, 43, was found slumped in the front seat of the car at about 6.45am by police officers who were alerted to an explosion at Skyvilla Apartments.

It is learnt that Mailvaganan, a limousine driver, might have fallen asleep inside the car with the engine running.

A security guard at the apartment said he heard the loud explosion before seeing a cloud of black smoke from one of the CCTV images.

Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said that based on initial police investigations, there was no element of foul play.

Adapted from : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/5/nation/4260042&sec=nation

Government doctors still not being paid their due

“Deal for government docs reasonable” (The Star, May 12) by the PSD which stated that the initial salary of government Medical Officers was the highest compared with those of other schemes of service in the public sector????? Is it a myth or reality?

DATO’ DR KHOO KAH LIN, President, MMA said....

1.R egards to the on-call allowance, we would like to point out that the RM150 per night is only for medical officers doing “active” on-call duty, i.e. working 16 hours per day beyond their normal working hours

2. Not all medical officers are given the opportunity to do RM80 per hour for locum work, as the extended clinic hours (5pm to 9pm) only involve 16 polyclinics and the locum work is mostly done by the doctors working at a particular polyclinic and doctors working at other polyclinics.

3. The actual UD44 salary at P1T1 is RM3,028.90 with fixed allowances of RM1,450.00 (including critical allowance of RM750, housing allowance of RM400, elaun khidmat awam of RM300 and COLA RM100 to RM300 depending on the location) and not a salary of RM6,000 per month

Conclusion : MMA has repeatedly requested the Government to introduce a separate service scheme for government doctors from that of other civil servants, as a doctor’s undergraduate training is longer at between five and six years, compared with other professionals.

Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/3/focus/4003932&sec=focus

From Deputy Director-General of Health (Medical)

DATUK DR NOOR HISHAM ABDULLAH said;

The MOH affirmed that only medical officers from recognised universities are accepted to work as contract officers in line with the requirements of the Medical Act 1971.

These medical officers are given full registration and Annual Practicing Certificates as per their contracts. Therefore, they can only practise medicine at the specified MOH facilities.

Hence under the Act, they cannot practise in universities or act as locums in private clinics or private hospitals.

While working with the MOH, these contract doctors are not allowed to join the Masters Programme in public universities.

Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/focus/21387338&sec=focus

from Minister of Health

Liow also said that doctors at government hospitals, who were on call, were now allowed to be off the next day

Liow also urged more private sector doctors to volunteer their time at government medical establishments at least once a month. “It is national service and we pay a token fee of RM80 an hour,” he said.

Liow said as of two weeks ago, doctors at government hospitals were required to place their names at the beds of patients to create a “patient ownership” environment.

Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/28/nation/21376236&sec=nation

Fast relaying of info can help to save lives, says Health Minister

Getting the vital medical statistics of a patient in an ambulance to a hospital even before the vehicle gets there is the latest digital project to be considered by the Health Ministry. Its minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said that if implemented, medical assistants in the ambulances would be able to obtain help from emergency rooms to treat the patient during the journey to the hospital. He added that patient information such as blood pressure reading, pulse, breathing rate and ECG could be transmitted to the control centres. Liow also said that 400 ambulances were needed in the future to serve Malaysians efficiently. An initial 100 units worth about RM30mil has been ordered and another 100 will be bought soon.
Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/9/nation/21199795&sec=nation

My questions are do the minister knows that many district hospitals in Malaysia do not have even a pulse oxymeter at their emergency units. Most of current ambulances available under the ministry of health do not have proper equipment such as BP set, pulse oxymeter and ECG monitoring device. So why spend millions of ringgits just for ICT when most basic requirements can not be provided. Even, we do not have enough number of trained medical assistant for our ambulance services. I do hope the ministry will study the plan properly. Advances in IT we have may appear great among the developing countries, but it will not be a wise decision when the basic needs can not be fulfilled.

Drive-through counter at Penang Hospital soon

Patients with chronic ailments may soon enjoy “drive through” facilities to collect their medication instead of having to wait at government hospital pharmacies.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said a pilot project would begin at the Penang Hospital in three months to study its feasibility.

“They will not have to come on their work day. They can get their medication after office hours or on weekends,” he said.

He said patients would be able to make a telephone call or send an SMS to the pharmacy ahead of making the collection.

Dr Ismail said “e-prescribing” – the computerisation of medicine prescriptions – had seen a decrease of the number of prescription errors.

Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/27/nation/21073354&sec=nation

Convocation in USM

The Universiti Sains Malaysia convocation scheduled for March 22. USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dzulkifli Abdul Razak said the second part of the 37th convocation, is meant for its foreign graduates. He said the USM’s 38th convocation would be held in August.