Salam..
Dear friends... If you can still remember my previous post about considering Sabah for housemanship--> [link]
Well, this is the continuation..but this time, its not about Sabah...(jeng3x......)
We usually hear people talking about doing HO in sabah...but how about Sarawak? why is it less popular compared to Sabah? (hmmm...i wonder...)
Luckily, our very own senior, Dr. Aimir (8th batch IIUM MBBS) was very kind enough to share his experience working nearly 2 years in Hospital Sibu, Sarawak... Thank you very much Dr Aimir! May Allah bless you always!
Housemanship in Sarawak
msg via fb by Dr Aimir
Sarawak has 3 hospitals for HO. Soon, I think Sarikei is going to be upgraded to specialist hospital but I'm not sure when it will be.
So, as some of you may have known.. there are 2 working in SGH, Kuching and 3 in Sibu from my batch. Initially, it was suppose to be 8 in SGH and 6 in Sibu. All my unibatch who are both single and from Klang Valley were posted here but.. well, everybody has his/her own personal issue. You knew the reason I came here if you read one of my notes in facebook, hehe..
Anyway, to start of.. I can only speak for Sibu. Don't know anything about Miri, but knows a bit about SGH since the Acap Bersaudara is there and from time to time, need to do referral and go there escorting patient. Until now, I've drove to Kuching 3x for short holiday but never been to Miri yet.
Sarawak is big..i mean, really big... The whole size of Peninsular. Divided into 3 zones.. East, Central & West.. That 3 hospitals are the only hospitals with specialist, one for each zones.. meaning tertiary/referral hospital for the entire size of Peninsular!!
Sibu is a small town like Temerloh.. I used to call Temerloh as cowboy town, so it's almost like that in Sibu. Majority is Chinese Foochow, who sometimes don't even speak Mandarin. So, don't expect some of them to even know Malay language. 90% of doctors here are Chinese, mostly local. Few of them Iban and Melayu Sarawak.. but really not many. Having said that, Sarawak is where u can find the true meaning of 1Malaysia.
I remembered the first time I joined medical department, the boss even asked me whether I've settled down or not (i.e. place of stay, transport, etc.) and he asked me to take extra leave if I haven't settle all that. Well, it's tough when you are the first batch to come here. No senior at all. Ingat lagi sesat sampai satu jam nak cari masjid, hahaha..
Sibu is relatively 'small' specialist hospital. All the specialist are still junior but their knowledge is superb. We received referral from the central zone of Sarawak, i.e. Kapit, Belaga, Song, Bintulu, Betong, Mukah, Kanowit, Sarikei, Bintangor, to name a few. You will be posted to 6 departments as you all know and here, you can get posted anywhere except ETD/Anaesthesiology posting where you should be a 5th/6th poster. So here, it's either ETD or anaes, depend on your luck and whether u ask pengarah or not..
Every hospital has its own stories. When you start working, you'll know which department is bad/good in specific hospital so it's the same here in Sibu. I don't want to say anything about department here, but generally Sibu is a place where you can learn quite a lot in term of managing cases. The seniors are very helpful and keen to teach you, doesn't matter what colours you are. Yeah, some of them is just plain a** but every hospitals has that, don't you agree?
Here, you have to know a bit of Melayu Sarawak (kamek sik nangga kitak), Iban (dini pedis dek? bisik kalak masuk spital?), and very very good if u know Mandarin (zai na li tong? wo ai ni). Ok, the wo ai ni is just a joke :) Anyway, good to be multilingual. At least you know when your Chinese colleague saying bad things about you. No la, just kidding. They are nice friends and people.
Having said that, you shouldn't worry to much about language. After some time, you'll pick it up. I mean, it's the same thing in Semenanjung. I'm sure if you're not Kelantanese and you go there for the first time, the only thing u can do is nod and smile.. don't you think so? Nok ghoyak guano ko demo eh? :P
Surgical skill is good to learn here. They expect you to learn to do simple surgery to prepare you when you are posted to district. Appendix & Caesar is a must. District hospital also has OT where the anaes team is only medical assistants. So, you will assist and perform a lot of cases here.
From time to time, you need to refer patient to SGH. So, you get to escort patient there. Most of the time, it's by flight (MAS) but if it's really urgent, it's either by ambulance (6-7hr journey) or Medevac (i.e. helicopter) which takes one hour journey. I've been on helicopter once, ambubagging patient the whole journey. It's really fun but scary because halfway, my SPO2 machine finished battery. Luckily, she's still alive when we get there. Haha, save that story for next time ok..
After you finish HO, you'll definitely be sent out to district. The only two conditions in which you won't be posted out are: 1) You are liked by certain department and special request was made to retain you as their MO (in condition that you also agree la) 2) You are from Semenanjung and by the end of first year HO, you already fill in application to go back once you finished HO (the problem is, in government setting, you don't always get what you want :P)
District posting here is very scary. I mean, really scary. Most of the time, u are alone and here u really learn how to make decision. Refer or not refer, intubate or not, go in or not (surgery), etc. So, if you really like adventure, love the life challenge, and not afraid to be away from your family or mom's armpit.. Sarawak is the place for you..
Here, you learn to appreciate things a lot. Things you do have rather than things you don't have. Take Kapit for example. The only mean of transportation is by express boat. Iban community there came all the way to Sibu to get treatment and spent whole sum of their money. It's very touching when they don't have enough money to go back once you discharge them, when you yourself spend money like crazy. Don't even mention the smaller town like Belaga and Song..
So, that's Sibu in general. Kuching and Miri have more Malay population and life is much better there i suppose for Muslims like us. Kuching is a big city, more or less like Kuantan. You have places to shop around and release tension. Sibu, unfortunately to say.. has nothing. OK la, got la something.. :) So, that's why I drove to Kuching from time to time.
What else, heh? Hurm, no idea anymore. I think enough la for the time being. If you want to know more, just ask me anytime k. Feel more than happy to help where I can. Have fun learning and I'll be waiting for you to be my colleague soon. Take care always.
P/S: You can share this with your friends, no problem. :)
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3 comments:
sometimes i'm wondering why people always prefer sabah than sarawak.. maybe it's the mentality, maybe it's the perception.. maybe people still think that sarawak is very backward, no civilization at all.. maybe they scared or maybe they just to stuck-up, don't know how to live in hardship.. maybe..
by the way, you'll usually get fresh cases in Sibu even though it's a referral hospital.. and most of the time, it's full blown disease with all the wonderful clinical findings.. because of the financial and logistic problem, patient always come to hospital when it's really really bad.. so, you have the opportunity to be the first one to handle and manage these new cases.. and i can assure you, sometimes you will be cracking your head to get the diagnosis :)
Oh, HO perform appendicectomy n C-sec?
Seriously?
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