The Malaysian Insider

Ayoyo baru tauka???Sudah 50 tahun ini macam la!!!!

Ever since Liow became Health Minister, the service at HKL has gone bad to worse. My respect to previous Health minister, Dr.Chua SL who made numerous surprise visits which I witnessed twice.
Regretfully, all we had were the bad reception and at the mercy of these HKL staff especially at the general clinic area. Either we see an immediate improvement or Liow should resign.

This is nothing shocking, Sir. This is our Malaysian Standard in the government sectors everywhere everyday. Now you know how frustrating we rakyat are, while the number of hours and days are being cut down in the government sectors, the attitude of the civil servants not only never improve, some get worse. There are many civil servants who think they are holding a very secured rice bowl for life time, they just don't have the passion for their works.

I had once encountered (some years back) a very rude woman in the passport department who for no reason raised her voice in front of everybody and asked me to : You duduk! Duduk! What the hell of service is that ! Why think so big of themselves just because they are in the civil service?

Going to any of the government offices is both very time consuming and patience testing. And you may need to be nuts in order not to feel offended.

What's so shocking, Datuk Saravanan?
It's been like that since god knows when.
Have you heard of being at the registering counter at 7.30 am.
But the doctor only appears at 11.00 am.
And you only get to obtain your medication from the pharmacy just before 1.00 pm.?

now i see why these doctors are over burden.. not because of work, but attending to their own personal business abd by the time they are done, their mind and body are all stressed up to attend to their official duty that is to attend to the many patients who are in pain..
Now the minister will come up with..its just an isolated case... hmmm...hmmm...now i know..
why dont those in authority just make a point to go down to the ground and make oneself a patient seeking treatment in any hospital or clinics and they will know for themselves...then come up with their sincere comments... then lets see if truly these doctors are overburden or otherwise...

now only you know that the government civil services provided this type of service and poor mentality.go and see by yourself the town council operated is worst than other department

Deputy Minister of Federal Territories Datuk M. Saravanan today “caught” two doctors at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) emergency department, reading newspapers and doing their own stuff instead of attending to more than 20 patients in pain waiting for treatment. Malaysian civil service has always been a laughing stock and therefore not surprising to hear and see loitering government servants not only at the hospitals but from also other ministries..theirs is a Malaysian culture and to them nothing is wrong and such culture is acceptable...having substandard service is a normal part of Malaysian government service other than being efficient in clamping down peaceful demonstration such speedy despatch of large police presence to peaceful gatherings, using SBs to clamp down opposition members..all these they are damn efficient and fast......treating patients is not public interest because it doesn't benefit UMNO policies...

I am suprised that YOU are suprised!

This has been going on for years and only now you finally realsied it!

So you found out, had a press conference, made some noise about it. So what? What next? PLease don't bther to answer the question, everybody knows the answer by now, 'NOTHING!' ....or in a Malaysian context, 'Nothing la!'.

You can blame the doctor's, you can blame the hospital, you can blame the heat, you can blame the newspaper (for having interresting articles that resulted in the doctor's obession with them at the expense of their work), but the blame should be on our EDUCATION SYSTEM.

It has failed us if these are the type of people who are able to graduate and call themselves Doctors.

It has failed us for not being able to instill any conscience as to whether their present attitude result in loss of life.

Have a sub-standard education system for producing sub-standard professionals and you will have sub-standard profesionals producing sub- standard work resulting in a sub-standard quality of life.

Emergency unit docs should be working feverishly, but here they are reading newspapers and doing their own thing! What a shame. The DG should be pulled up to answer, after all only recently he received an award, an award for this kind of service??

Apparently the civil service is still the same. Like when I was working in Jabatan Insolvency, whenever the Ketua Pengarah came to visit our office, our Pengarah will tell us to remove all the files from our tables and hide them in the File room, just to give the impression that all our work is cleared, when in actual fact we were short handed, and there was a big back log dating back to many years. And the stupid DG falls for the Pengarah's trick and goes off thinking everything is ok. Such dumb people we have as head of departments.

It is the top civil servants who should be disciplined and removed if the public delivery system is to be improved. One thing I notice, even if his Department is in shambles the DG never fails to get awards and titles. It only happens in Bolehland.

Even professionals like doctors & lawyer are unreliable when the goverment is ruled by the corrupted !!!

Please Datuk Sara aslo go pay a surprise visit to the PUAS office at Bangsar. Try to go to terminate you water services. You will end up like me, waiting for 1 hour at 9 am until 10 am whilst the PUAS staff go to kanteen and cakap cakap with collegues. I was the first ine line and nonody at the reception and the other PUAS staff just asked me to sila tunggu. I can see about 15 staff all talking and only one lady was working at her PC, maybe official work or personal work, I don't know, but the other 14 were all cakap cakap, sembang sembang:(

Like MonKHIR which claim he was shocked because his underling didn't tell him, thie type of excuse hold no water.

Toyo was born 5 years ago so he didn't know about our poor Malaysian Indians' plight and need for better economic opportunities!

And here we have a MIC fellow who was born only yesterday!

Hello Saravanan, have you been sleeping too?

Aiyayaa.. semua minister and deputy minister sekarang baru bangun ka???? I can tell you people not only HKL punya service is like that and almost ALL (99%) government dept punya civil servants semua pun tak bolih pakai and they are all taking gaji buta for doing nothing! You minister can go and visit any one of your government sector you will know how they enjoy they good life in their office!

99% attitude of the civil servants worse than those orang NYANYUK... LEBIH BAIK WE DON'T CALL THEM GOVERNMENT DEPT AND WE SHOULD GIVE THEM A NAME "ALMOST DEAD DEPARTMENT"....

Now only they know ke ????????????????????????????

Not only this , some of the Dr can also
be down right rude....my experince..

After 52 years like that.....this idiot
should be given some credit for highlighting it.

If he did not go there....business as usual lah
for the next 52 years.....

Change the BN gomen....

The rakyat has suffered for 52 years.....

Wake up and vote PR.....

Umno/bn boleh.Malaysia Boleh. "Actor for hire in malaysiawood". Majority of Malaysia know a lot of thing long ago.

They are NOT government servants.

They are PUBLIC servants - paid by the Rakyats' to serve the Rakyat.

They are civil servants - paid by the civilians' taxes to serve the civilians.

As you have always been in the high circle, how would you know? Wherever you or relatives go, you all will be given good service & besides I do not think you will go to a goverment hospital but private ones.

So I don't blame you la.......

Congratulations to Datuk Saravanan for your recent discovery. And of all things, it is by an accident.

I do wonder what sort of system is in place in the civil service. Don't you have check and balance? KPIs? SOP? Internal auditors to do surprise checks? Defined roles and responsibilities to ease the detection of irresponsible civil servants?

I am sure if all these are in the proper places handled by professionals, those who are lackadaisical would have long been disciplined and removed. but instead, the whole system is found to be wanting.

You expressed sympathy for people in pain. I see the human side of you speaking. Yet will this human side also push for real changes? Rather than constantly using the whip on the rakyat, I suggest you speak to your fellow ministers to turn the whip onto an indifferent civil service. If simple dismissal wouldn't do, isn't it best to use the laws to punish them for not doing their utmost due care and diligence? Please stop talking about getting the front liners in action, get the whole damn civil service to fall in line, be it front, middle, back, up or down.

I wonder how's the counter staffs at FT ministers' office? Anyone care to make a surprise visit?
I bet my 2 cents you'll encounter similar situation. This is NORM at alll govt offices. Let's face it... itll take more than surprise visits to eradicate the problem.

For us, the ordinary men in the street, generally, we try to have little to do with the civil service as possible. And when we do have to interact with them, it is often a painful experience except if you are among the privileged ones e.g. UMNO officials, Datuks, Tan Sris, Tuns .... and then you receive a red carpet treatment reserved for VIPs and VVIPs. The only eyes that need to be opened are those of our so-called political "leaders".
OK I'm generalizing ... and I would like to record my appreciation to Immigration, NRD and JPJ & a few others for significant acceleration in the process of document renewal. But the rest just make you want to scream ..... you often see them driniking coffee and yakking with counters closed while the queue builds up! In case our so-called "leaders" haven't noticed, we have a failed civil service... a symptom of other failures in our society.

Credit must be given to where it is due, and I certainly would like to thank the UMMC for improving the delivery system in certain depts. I would like to cite the section where blood is taken for tests. This has improved tremendously as the staff even start to call numbers at abouit 7.30 am. and there are 4 to 6 nurses taking samples. So there is shorter waiting time. So those who are fasting need not have to suffer from gastric or hunger pain. As for seeing the doctors, if the docs come on time, the patients need not have to wait too long. The issue of numbers to collect medication needs improvement, as the queue can sometimes be very long, and this put a strain on the elderly. So maybe HKL can learn something from UMMC.

Huh? Dont tell me these minister buggers dont know this? Why pretend be shocked as this is happening and had been happening the last many decades.

1. Gaji permulaan doktor kerajaan gred UD 41 :RM 2 456.39
Elaun kritikal: RM 750.00
Elaun khidmat awam : RM 300.00
Elaun perumahan : RM 250.00
Elaun Sara Hidup: RM 300.00
JUMLAH: RM 4 056.00 (pendapatan seorang doktor kerajaan yang baru masuk kerja. Lagi lama kerja lagi tinggi gaji.)

2.Pendapatan tertinggi bagi pegawai baru dilantik dalam public service dari kalangan gred 41 berbanding lain-lain skim.


3.Ini tidak termasuk elaun Oncall, Kenaikan Pangkat ke gred UD 44 selepas tamat 2 tahun houseman.

4. Tetapi dua ekor doktor ini tidak bersyukur dan sepatutnya dipecat. TIDAK BUAT KERJA.

Surprise? You pay peanut you get monkey. In our case, we get doctors!! Yes it is isolated cases. All these comments are just demoralised the dedicated and overworked doctors.

Seriously. Hospitals in Malaysia cost USD$0.35 /treatment. Doctor USD$900 /monthworking 7am til 12midnight and the fools here just can't wait to blame the government.

Sick people

Saravanan, why are you intruding into Liow Tong Lai? Anyway, you did the right thing today and I want you from now on to check on Health Minister Liow Tong Lai if he also has been sleeping? You know, Liow belong to the snoop squad and also peeping tom. Now you are a bit better than him spying on others!

All in the same house, the ER is not mean for rescue, you died faster if you were to send to the Government's Hospital ER !!Let all the MPs and the legislators have their treatment there, then they will know, and cry for helps from god!

Not only the doctors are "sleeping" on the job. the director is also not on her toes. No wonder we have such problem. She just find excuses. Sack her too.

Dear Saravanan
Don't prejudge. It is obvious that you give knee jerk reactions. My advice to you is:
- sack your reckless driver. or did he speed because you told him to do so as you did not manage your time effectively? if the latter is the case, you should have brought the girl to a private medical centre and pay for her medical treatment yourself. Unfortunately, you have chosen to be stingy and send her to a public hospital. What is worse is that you have cunningly evaded responsibility and tried to generate political mileage in your favour, to the detriment of good, hardworking doctors. Were these doctors non-Indians? perhaps you would have kept quite if they were Indians?
- doctors in public hospitals have a very heavy workload. You should have referred the matter to your colleague who is in charge of health in the cabinet. do not be nosy. KL City hall has numerous problems which you have failed to solve, Focus on those.
- KL Hospital have explained that there were only 8 patients. for every one patient, there will be three accompanying relatives. But you jumped to conclusions and conclude that all there waiting were patients.

Given your proven lack of intellect, it just beats me how Najib Razak could have appointed you a Deputy Minister, and to boot it, you were awarded a datoship.

Aiyo...yoh Saravanan, you should ask Liow Tong Lai during the Parliment debates, why he have neglected his duty as a Health Minister.
I bet his answer to you is that he is busy shooting pornography film on couples making love for his health ministry "Safe Sex" campaign.
Thats why he have no time to check on the hospitals under his health ministry.
Maybe he will ask you to piss off and mind your own business.

She (HKL director Datuk Dr Zaininah Mohd Zain) said the hospital's investigation showed that there were only eight patients and 20 relatives...
---

Deputy Minister of Federal Territories Datuk M. Saravanan just woke up!!! Good night, Datuk.

This kind of thing you'd just discovered already happening all the time lah.
Why??? Malaysians know about government people are lazy, and Cabinet members don't know.

That is why - Cabinet members are so detached from ground realities.
Don't know the problem, what problem to solve. Everything very good mah, when you guys show up.

Now Saravanan complaint...oh oh. This is no good lah.
Dr Zaininah is not happy that you talked to the media people. You don't give face to people.
She investgated and she found only 8 people waiting there, not 20 patients...
So...8 patients and the others are family members...they were not so much pain...
so doctors can read newspapers lah...
If HKL Director can talk like that...you can expect the doctors also behave like that...
Perhaps you should do random check in her office...
You may find she also read newspapers la. La la la.

Excuse. Excuse is not professional.
Lazy people always give excuse.

BTW, Datuk Saravanan - you are not deputy minister of the Health Ministry...Be careful okay.
Somebody is now piss off with you.

Anyway, thank you for waking up. Most Cabinet people are like you...they are still sleeping or reading newspapers.

The ministers and their deputies are well insulated from realities. Since they are well insulated, what about the people whose work to support the ministers? None ever tell the truth? Or these people just too busy to be a ball carrier.

That is how the whole civil service has become. To be the ball carrier for the big balls.

What is so surprising, Dty minister? You think you are from the US? This is Malaysia, and these things happen as a matter of routine. Shame on you that you did not know.

Of course, the "too human" doctors' boss would defend them even caught red-handed. This is the SOP of the civil service, denial at all cost. Dty Minister, don't say that you do not know this very basic thing, again?

Dear YB Saravanan, you've expressed this situation like it's some kind of strange phenomenon.

Brother, the way the civil service has been goin' the last 40 years+ ... this is the NORM, you dope. Now that you've highlighted this, do ensure you put your money where your mouth is and make sure positive things happen for us Malaysians. As aptly articulated by written by:-

sing penang, April 26, 2009
They are NOT government servants.
They are PUBLIC servants - paid by the Rakyats' to serve the Rakyat.
They are civil servants - paid by the civilians' taxes to serve the civilians.

Don't be so wet behind the years lah ... you're already in the cabinet now. Do something about it or failing which; the Rakyat will.

Every Thursdays civil servants wear batik to work. Ask the ministers to walk around the restaurants after eight in the morning and until lunch hour . All these places will be full of people wearing batik. They don't work and sit around this shops in groups talking and laughing away. This happens everyday. You can notice it on Thursdays because of the batik attire. Nothing gets done in the government departments. Trust me. This has been going on despite the ministers saying no coffee break. Its true because it starts at 8 in the morning. So no coffee break but whole morning break.

Some kind of insect went into my wife's ear last week. As she was groaning in pain, I took her to the Trauma & Emergency wing of UMMC in PJ. Her registration slip showed the time of 12.09 pm. The staff at the reception counter directed her to wait at 'orange coloured door' until her name is called. She was called in at 3.16 pm, some 3 hours later. Luckily for her the pain subsided while waiting to see the doctor. The insect could have walked/flown out since the doctor couldn't find anything inside.
It was noon on Friday. There seemed to be very few doctors attending. The Muslim men could be away for prayers. Since the 'orange coloured doors' were opened, I could see from outside two female doctors busy attending to patients. There were two other male doctors, but they seemed to be either talking to each other or to the family/friends of patients most of the time. Could be something important, I have no way of knowing.
I was seething inside. If my wife was in severe pain I would have barged in, but I kept on telling myself that I should wait in queue because patients before her could also be in bad pain. Of course I could have left and sought treatment at a private clinic/hospital except for the fact that I just couldn't afford it. I am after all just a government pensioner.

Now you know sir.Dealing with GOVERNMENT DEPT., be it Hospital or any other govt. Dept. is very frustrating experience indeed.

there you go, the head of HKL is DEFENDING the two doctors ..... how to improve ? do lah singapore style, hire and fire IF you are not up to PAR .....

Just because he is a minister he has to be treated first is it? So what if the doctor was reading newspapers or doing his or her own thing...he or she could have just finished a double shift or has been on call for the past 24 hours and just taking some time to wind down before going home. Or would the whiners above rather exhausted doctors to carry on and risk malpractice just because some people cant wait?

As the director of HKL said, there were 8 patients and 20 relatives at that time. So there seem to be a different version from the ministers. I have had some experience with the emergency units in HKL, UH and Putrajaya Hospital. All three were excellent and I dont have complaints, especially in view of the few ringgit fee that it cost me. Yes there was waiting time but it was no worse than other private hospitals. In fact the wait was longer in NHS hospital in London and longer and slower in a private hospital in PJ. I am sure the knee jerk whiners above would not complain if its was in a private hospital or in a Mat Salleh jurisdiction.

I feel sorry for the doctors and medical assistants at hospitals such as HKL. I feel for them with the emergency bell constantly ringing with accident victims, mat rempits, gang fights victims all requiring the same level of care yet at the same time, they have to deal with the drunkards and the drug addicts and the cold and flu 'victims' as well. As such, unless the doctors in question were on duty at the time, I believe they dont warrant the criticism above. Its one thing to critisize the government of the day, but contrary to believe, there are hard working honest civil servants out there...

Hahaha! Where has this deputy minister been all these while? I remember taking my sister to JPJ Padang Jawa a couple of years back. We arrived at 9.00 am. There's already a line waiting and the counter says 'keluar rehat'. AT 9.00 AM! Did the counter worker open his or her counter at 5.00am so that by 9.00am he/she has to keluar rehat?

These BNputras never have to face such lousy services in any govt depts bcos they are always attended to promptly. Nothing shocking to the ordinary rakyat. This is the the norm rather than the exception. Saravan knows about this but he is playing up the matter to gain political mileage.

550 cases per day so it is almost 23 patients per hour on the average but then again average is not the correct way to look patient load. Sometimes you get only 9 patients so the doctors can read newspaper and do their own thing. Maybe at other times the doctors dont even have time to go to the toilets.

In my opinion ,if any minister who were to be shocked by the sud- standard quality of service rendered in our public service, he should be sacked immediately as he must either be a moron or someone who doesnot work. If he works then he should be aware of the working attitude of the public servants in general,based on the efficiency of just his own ministry! Saravanan just simply is a hypocrite. Cut my throat ,if his ministry is of any difference from the rest . DON'T WAYANG ,SARA!

I'm shocked, totally shocked....that our minister only got to know these kind of services from civil servant to the rakyat. Either you really act don't know or you are really ignorant and totally out of touch with the ground level. Stop putting in the ivory tower. Come down to the ground level, dress as an ordinary citizen without any escort and just try to get some counter services from some of the government departments.
Then you can truly measure the level of service the rakyat has been bearing with all these years.

And HKL Director, stop justifying. No matter what you say to justify your staff, people's perception always the most important. This is what customer service is all about...positive customer perception. Guest you need to go for a customer service course.

There are several occasions ,I met hard working doctors in Sri Manjung and Ipoh General Hospitals.They are reasonably responsible. I am very much impressed by their thoroughness in their diagnosis .However, the facilities and maintenance are really a great disappointment. Every time I see the condition of the facilities , the perception that the fund allocated for health must have gone into somebody's pocket. Maybe I am prejudiced, but the CORRUPTED bn govt can't make me think other way!

I do agree that there are civil servants who play o the tune of the 'cari makan jingle'.

However, please do not lump each and every civil servant in one heap of dirt. There are those who are committed to their job. I'm sure many who have encountered good service in govt. depts. in the past will come forward and support this.

To be fair, lets separate the wheat from the chaff before we start to condemn the whole lot. it's just very counter productive.

I was told that human memory last for only about a month. If we want the memory to be burned in, the information must be repeated every month for about 12 months.

How about it, Datuk. Can we hear about your exploits every month for the next 12 months?

The comments from the Hospital Director....showed this fellow has no idea what's going on.. .

Maybe she was reading newspaper too....

successive prime ministers have been mollycoddling and apple polishing the balls of civil servants so they have now become civil bosses instead of servants. the former prime minister himself admitted that there were many little napoleons in the civil service, but the most he did in punishing these s.o.b. officers was to give them a little tap on the palm. that's all. everyone knows that civil servants have been overpaid for their mediocre output, and add in all the perks and privileges, they are indeed a pampered lot, which to the private sector, is only a lump of dog shit of the 'necessary evil' type. is our new pm aware that the private sector is now probably supporting and feeding an overweight, fat and inefficient public sector? he should ask one of the top malaysian universities to conduct a study whether this statement is true. the pm should revert the work week of civil servants to five and a half day work week and reduce or even remove some of the excessive perks like allowing government officers to drive imported cars such as bmw, land cruisers, and other imported luxury cars for their official duty, because for all you know, these expensive vehicles paid for by taxpayers' money are being used to ferry their kids to school or fetch their wives to market or shopping or to hair saloons. this is really a waste of taxpayers' hard earned money. just look at the private sector workers such as shop assistants, factory workers, construction and sales people. they have to slog like to hell just to make ends meet, and many are taking on 2 or more jobs to keep their family fed and clothed. is the government aware of that? is the government doing anything concrete to help the lot of thousands of struggling estate workers who give their lives to help estate owners get rich and in the process enriching government coffers? these private sector workers are literally exchanging their lives to earn the means to live on to the next day. what perks do the government propose or have given to such workers? perhaps it is time for our new pm to show that his government is now very people oriented. perhaps it is now time for the government to feel how such workers go through the grind each day and endure it just so they may get on to the next day. perhaps it is now time for our new pm to get into such workers boots for a day just so he can feel how the struggling private workers are able to get by day by day with nothing in store for emergencies. perhaps it is now time for pm najib to commission a team of experts to find the discrepancies in remuneration between the two sectors, the quantum of input and output from them, and the actual need for variations should the findings show a need to alter, reduce or increase the system of remuneration in either or both sectors.

Aha. Now the Public knows why the bloated medical service is short of Doctors all the time. Compared to the bloated over sized civil service the Doctors have more time to be 'missing' and to have many excuses for that.

A trye examination of the bloated civil service and medical services will show the Rakyat is going for a drive. The Political leaders of course play the civil servants tune because first of all they need their votes and secondly they are afraid to offend the semi illiterate civil sevant who carries out the same chopping and stamping of documents all his ot her life.

Must be really monotonous. Someone should try to cure that by cuttng down the bloated service by 40% at least.

Another actor from Bollehwood attempts to score points.

He saw this when he happen to visit the hospital to meet a patient. So, he was not on duty and he 'worked'.

But during his 'working hours' he plays politics.

hey deputy minister! just because you happen to wander in on a couple of doctors lepaking doesn't make you a hero, you know? try going to an govt hospital everyday, then you can talk like you are some hero okay?
'
you think you just walk in once wave your arms around, shout at a few civil servants and then that's it, ah? for 50 YEARS you and your BN lembus have been in charge and STILL things are like this- don't forget that okay? coz we the people certainly haven't. and besides, isn't it your JOB to make sure the service works anyway? this sort of thing is NORMAL and why? BECAUSE ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP!

so if civil servants are lazy and corrupt, its because they know like we do about all your shenanigans and so why not follow? after all if boss doing it why not us?

shameless cheap publicity seeker!

caught with their pants down but still denying any wrong. This is typical of the UMNO bred organisations.

Thanks to Dato M. Saravanan for not trying to cover up short fault in civil service. I appreciate his boldness in highlighting the issue. If the political leaders are prepared to share the pain and grievances’ of general public. And make an affirmative immediate action to rectify imperfection. I am sure people will be with them. The general public not expecting magic from member of cabinets and civil servants, just execute your basic responsibility with full commitments

I do agree with HKL director Datuk Dr Zaininah Mohd Zain, “Our doctor’s human," they need a rest, but DR why don’t they take turn to go for break? At least in accident and emergency department? It is known secret, that the government staff don’t perform 8 hours job in their 8 hours duty. They will do all their personal business during office hours. Can you deny that Dr?

Please Dr, don’t defend just for sake of defending. What is the point to you evaluate, supervise to maintain a high quality of service but you don’t want to listen to alternative opinion and blindly defend your unprofessional lazy staffs?

Lastly the person who has made a complaint, Dato M Saravanan is not unknown person to HKL, he is man who born and brought up in nearby hospital quarters. Am sure he had observed your “ hardworking doctors” for along time. Mohanan Perumal, London

Go around the major departments in the State and you will be 'pegawai tak ada'. Some of them play golf during office hours under the pretext of official functions.

Why you need to check whether the government staff is working?. The person that should do the checking is their supervisor and head of department. Leadership through example is vital for any organisation performance and growth. The warning should be directed to the 2 group, supervisor and head of department, either they perform their duty or be sacked.

What a joke on the comments from the Hospital Director. She must have not visited the Emergency Department herself !

Does she qualify to be a Director ? In Singapore or US, she would have been SACKED !

Why not we propose that all government officers such as our MPs , to only seek medical attention from government hospital. No more those private hospital facilities for them. Let them try their own medicines. Try how our parents suffer q'ing for hours just to get a insulin shot. Since our Zombie so keen on using only local car, now try your local medicine.

Politicians are all living in their ivory tower thinking how to become richer thru the various government projects and initiatives. They never get to experience the sufferings of the rakyat and that is why we should change government every few years, BN to PR; then PR back to BN; BN-PR...

This is to ensure that no governments monopolize the civil service and the civil servants don't get lazy like their political leaders.

Simple as that.

Checking with government dept as well as GLC should be done on adhoc basis and more frequently.
Although this is not a shocking finding because of govt staff nature and attitude, but it must be curb immediatle to prevent from growing. How to compete with external if the moral and attitude of own staff not improve.
Actually, this problem boil down the the head of dept. They are too lenient and not guided by strict KPI.
They should started like hotel businesses.Customer comment slip should be place at area where customer can forward this complaints or compliements. This would gauge customer satisfaction level. This slip should be collected and viewed by customer service head/HR. Then provide proposal for improvement.

Many years ago I was hospitalized for dengue fever. I waited the whole day to get admitted into the ward. By the time they wheeled me in, in bad shape, to be attended by the doctor in charge, he actually asked me whether he could have his dinner first (I just nodded, too shocked to react otherwise).

I understand that doctors are overworked, and they are also human beings, but it is also very hard for us the public to accept (some of the doctors) their lackadaisical manner in handling emergency cases. It's like oh, another case, relaxxxxxx, you won't die lah. People who choose to become doctors should not do it for the aim of hitting it big time after slaving a couple of years at the general hospitals.

Datuk, WHATS NEW????!

All govt servants are a heap of dirt. And Yeah!. Where is the Liow bugger? What the bloody hell is he doing./ No Perfomance Now. Sack the bugger.

najib is now talking about kpi's to evaluate the ministers and i believe it is being used in the government sectors now. the thing is, what kind of goals are being set for them? probably the targets are so low that everything is very achievable without them having to do anything! thus, we will continue to have civil servants and ministers with low standards for many years to come!

Same to HUKM. Try to enter the treatment room from rear door of the emergency unit. Most of the doctors are charting amongst them or reading a newspaper too.

What is happening here is NOT RIGHT. It is NOT JUST. As Malaysians, even when our politicians did the wrong thing, as Malaysians we always strive to do what is right. We have always tried to the best of our ability to make things right in our own little way and within our circumstances.

I ask you now to MAKE THIS RIGHT because indifference and ignorance are no longer valid excuses.

A doctor spends 5 long years of hard work, sweat, pain and tears to qualify to save another person's life. It is a life commited to sacrifice. It is about hours and hours of dedication and lack of sleep. They work and stay awake while we rest and sleep peacefully curled up in our blankets night after night so that when you father has a stroke, your mother has chest aches, your sister has an astma attack or your brother is bleeding his brain and guts out on the street after a long night of football on the big screen, party and a drink too many, you know the number to call and you better believe this doctors that you think are selfish, will come get you and make the right call that will let you or your loved ones live to see another day.

I know what happened that day and I need to say this because if you nail this doctor due to your pre-conceived notions and long-standing frustrations, I will be as guilty as you and my silence makes me an accomplice.

If you are serious about the truth and you are not into dragging someone through the mud for the fun of it, you need to ask yourself.

-Was the doctor 'lazying' around?
-Did this politician see the doctor waiting for the next patient to be called and see the newspaper on the table and jump to a conclusion?
-Did the DM report the car accident incident or was he just in a hurry to cover up the incident and get on with his day?
-Why did the DM feel that his status as a politician make him above the standard procedures and waiting period?
-What gave him the right to storm into a doctor's room? What if a critical patient was being treated inside or if a woman (your mother or sister) was undressing for a test? Who safeguards these rights?
-Would he have tolerated it if someone had barged into his own room? Would he not then summon security and have us thrown out? Don't we all wait for hours at his lounge waiting for a minute of his time?
-Did he or did he not threaten the doctor that he will 'take him down'?
-If yes, was this warranted? And is this media attention to make good what he said he would do?
-Is someone going to investigate the rights of workers in a work place? This is after all the doctor's work place.
-Has this incident been blown out-of-propotion? And has it now been spun to serve as a political opportunity for this politician now to throw his weight around and use it at the same time to get political brownie points.
-Is this portrayal by this Senator highlighting this incident in the interest of the public or for personal gain?

I am not going to insult your intelligence by implying anything but as informed citizens, we should not let anyone take us for a ride. The days of colonization, divide and conquer rule and a manipulating media is long over and we need to be always two steps ahead of the game.

HKL director should check out this incident and let the public know the outcome and not just sweep it under the carpet as all public incidents always do. Let the Health Minister (Datuk Liow) clarify this incident and hopefully All ministers and deputy turun padang (tak payah tiap2 hari) to see for themselves how their people under their ministries serve the public. To be fair to the civil service some of them are efficient and hardworking but majority need to brush up and improve their work to serve the public for the good of all.

My Masters degree and research paper is on Media and how it affects public opinion but I am not going to claim to be an expert in this field. Instead, what is am going to do is offer you a series of perspectives to take into consideration when delibrating on this written article. I think this is crucial because the writer (and pls excuse me for not being able to regard this person as a journalist or writer, which you will see why as you read further).

Perspective 1-Media and Manipulation of public opinion

The article above has been titled-'Deputy minister catches doctors lazing while patients wait'.

My first question is who wrote this article. In the field of media and journalism, the public needs to understand that there is an philosophy of understanding and a possible conspiracy theory with ever article that is written. Every written piece of work in journalism or reporting contains a bias. Ideally, this should not happen and that is one of the fundamental things that we should have learnt as journalists or reporters at our first class on reporting. But as humans, we bring our perception of matters and everything we write is riddled with our fundamental beliefs and unfortunately, our biases. The question is how much of a bias has gone into this article.

As a fellow journalist, writer and reporter, who now researches this issue, I find the coverage of this event ludicrous. This is most certainly not reporting and it is insulting for anyone to take it as such. So, I am going to stop calling this a report and start referring to this as an article. The title of the article strongly proves that the writer has already made a judgement on this incident which has happened. 'Your Honour' has ruled that he/she was in fact there and the doctor in question was indeed idlying away his time while patients were dying in the foyer. This, my friends is what, in reporting, we sum up in two words-dramatization and controversy. By painting a molehill out of context, we can actually make it look like a mountain. But this isn't funny now because the media is not drama school and we are not in Hollywood.

In reporting, we value credibility with our lives because when you report, people trust that we potray the information with absolute truth and such we have the legendary power which we have been entrusted with to form public opinion. And, when that trust is betrayed, we have violated our commitement to journalism. How would this writer who has written this very emotive piece to spark the public outcry know what transpired in that waiting room? But he is certainly convinced that this politician is telling the gospel truth and then he/she writes a one-sided article and comes out with a title of an article-Deputy minister catches doctors lazing while patients wait. My question is, where are the comprehensive sequence of events which happened that day?

What is the report had been re-phrased to-
-Deputy Minister demands immediate attention at Government hospital.
-Deputy Minister storms into doctor's room at GH.
-Disgruntled Deputy Minister threatens doctor at GH.
-Deputy Minister verbally abuses doctor at GH.
I do hope this clearly outlines what is happening. One title has made all the difference. Suddenly, everyone is crying foul and venting their long pent up frustration on this one doctor, who I can assure you was a victim of circumstances. And, I can tell you this because I know exactly what happened that day. And, unfortunately, I know that you are all making a pre-judged conclusion. I know that you don't have all the facts of this case and that the person who reported this case is accountable for that. I know with certaintly that the story is being spinned in the wrong direction.

The public outcry on slow and ineffective public service is valid. I know how many times my elderly family members, my immediate family and I have been left waiting for hours and hours losing our daily wages and leave allocation on time spent sorting out matters which left us at the mercy of government officials. But this is not how it is done. We do not shoot the first on sight to make a political statement. That may be the way politics work but that is not how humanity functions and we need to re-introduce humanity back into politics.

sri hartamas and sleme are spot on with their comments...but I guess the Datuk is looking for some cheap KPI points!!!..nonetheless if investigation proofs Drs.are indeed neglecting their responsibilities then they should be disciplined..incidentally its not far-fetched that there always are more relatives than patients at most hospitals!

It is amazing HKL director Datuk Dr Zaininah Mohd Zain has come out to defend her dept the way she did. She obviously has lost the plot altogether.

One wonder how she became a director of the hospital. Is she aware that :-

a) it's an "Emergency" dept and patients should be given attention fast ?
b) the pace of attention suddenly picked up when the Deputy Minister complained ?
c) The fact there are no patients in the doctor's room is because all the patients were waiting outside ?
d) it is her head that is on the chopping block if she knew about the shortages of doctors and failed to inform her superiors or act on it ?

Come on Dr Zaininah. Admit it. You and your staff has been napping.

HKL director says, emergemcy unit is a very busy unit with 550 patients per day.
And yet these doctors find time to read newspaper......
What a hippocratic statement by her, cover for them if they are right...not do a cover up when they are wroooooonnnnnnnnggggggg......

Almost all govt depts are infected with the HKL disease.

So what if there are 8 patients waiting? If there are other doctors around, they should be attended to immediately. Time is precious and why should the patients suffer ij waiting while the doctors lepak?

what is the fuss? many gov doc are zombies anyway while working,
with 36 hrs of straight working

dei macha(saravanan)..tell us something we don't already know.it was forever this way in goverment hospitals.

We all have an issue with perpective. The problem is, we can only have perspective based on the information we have at hand. Obviously, you have been denied the right information to be able to react justly to what has happened.

So, since the doctor is not in the room to defend himself and the politician has had his time of day and very public display of his version of the truth, let me enlighten you on another side of the truth which he has conveniently skirted around.

Here is the real version of the truth:

The politician's driver knocked down a girl. They say the devil is in the detail, but I am not even going to attempt to wake the devil here. Of course, we will not delve in why and how he managed to knock the girl down. Whose fault it was? Did he report the incident and is the matter being investigated? Was he or was he not following the road rules in the interest of this 'public interest' which he claims to advocate? Was it out of guilt or concern that he took the girl to the hospital? Could it be that his hurry and impatience about ensuring the girl receives quick medical treatment so that he clears his name so that he can get on with his day or was it his interest in public service efficiency as he claims?

But like I said, let's not wake the devil in all these little thought-provoking questions. So, the politician and his driver brought her to the General Hospital to be treated. There were 6 doctors in separate rooms. At that time, there were 6 other patients waiting with some of their family members or relatives waiting around. This probably accounts for the 20 patients, which the politician claimed in his press conference, were waiting. He insisted on being treated immediately.

At this point, I am sure it beggars belief for him that he was made to wait. The politician saw his matters as warranting immediate attention. I dare think that being at the other end of the waiting game suddenly seemed very uncomfortable to this poilitician and it was something he is not used to.

So, this girl which they had knocked down had an x-ray done. It was determined by the doctor that she did not have a fracture or a broken bone. While this was happening, the politician was growing impatient. The girl was found to have only abrasions (cuts and stratches) and she was having her wounds bandaged.

In the meantime, a medical officer is holding a newspaper. He has to leave the room. He leaves the newspaper on the doctor's table. The doctor's starts flipping the newspaper while waiting for the next patient to be called. At that exact moment, the politician, angry and impatient, storms into one of the rooms. It is the room where the doctor had flipped open the newspaper. Well, here's something to think about-we all lead a relatively peaceful life with occasional emergencies. How often does a medical emergency happen in your life, once a month, once in three months, you can't remember the last time?

In the politician's anger at being delayed and at this unfortunate incident which he and his driver has actually caused, the politician barges into one of the doctors' rooms and it happens to be this doctor's room. In a hurry to justify his anger and impatience, he baselessly concludes that the doctor is lazy and is reading the newspaper. He then proceeds to shout and verbally abuse the doctor saying, 'He does not know how to do his job', 'He is an insult to the profession' and that 'He is going to take him out'. I wonder how many of you, whether you love your job or not, will tolerate being spoken to such.

The politician then demands to see the Pengarah and launches into an angered series of complaints. His main complaint is that the doctor does not know what he is doing because their is no ointment (medicated oil). Ointment?! If you are not happy with the service, why not seek a second opinion? It is quite common, is it not these days, to get a second opinion. I wonder if the politician seeks treatment at government hospitals himself when he needs medical assistance. Or was this an attempt to get off cheap and easy with the hopes that his status as a politician would have fast-tracked his case.


The doctor has since been summoned by the Pengarah and is being investigated. If the politician had not flexed his muscle enough, he calls up his journalist friends and the following story is drawn up. This is an insult to journalism. It does not adhere to objective reporting instead skirts to pre-judged conclusions. The result, a one-sided story that sells and buys into a long-standing public dissatisfication on government service waiting to see the light of day.

Unfortunately, the doctor will eventually face the board with severe repercussions. My grave concern is that they are going to use him to make a political statement.

Perspective.

How often does a medical emergency happen in your life, once a month, once in three months, you can't remember the last time?

Well, here's something to put in perspective, for these doctors -emergencies are their lives. Their job description involves dealing with sick children to dying adults and everything in between. Every one who walk through their door have some form of emergency or another. And, injury, disease and death make no distinction between race, religion, status and wealth.

So, do excuse them for not being in constant state of alarm and panic. Do also excuse them for not thinking that the abrasions that you and your driver had caused on this girl out of your own carelessness does not constitute a medical emergency for them especially when they have to deal with more serious and severe life threatening emergencies for instance the different levels of cancer, choking incidents, tragic accidents and forms of trauma which you have not seen or could possibly imagine.

We need to understand that the public outcry on long waiting hours, lazy government staff and an inefficient public service is justified but this is not right. We CANNOT use one innocent person to make a political statement. Do we shoot the lawyer when we are not happy with the law?

We cannot take this doctor down because we have pent up anger with the system. This is an emotive issue and people get carried away sometimes and lose perspective. Its the pent up frustration and anger over time talking and we don't want to stand around watching while they drag this innocent guy through the mud.

Some of you have siblings who are doctors, maybe an uncle, aunt, cousin or friend. You know how hard they work. You know how much of money, hours of study and sacrifice got them there. You must also know that they work for 24 hours without a break. A doctor left for work at 7am this morning and he will go home again on Tuesday at 3pm. Do the math.

Did someone just send a posting on a calculation of how much a doctor earns? Any 5 year-old can copy and paste 'elaun kerja' from the net. But it takes sense, context and perspective to be able to do the math. A doctor works 24 hours in a stretch. They do not have public holidays and weekends off. They do not make it home for festivals or family gatherings.

We treasure our lunch hoursfor crying out loud and our leisurely evenings out with our loved ones. We fight for more public holidays and call on workers's union to demand more off days during the year. We won't give up our weekends and our workers' rights require us to be paid double or triple for work on weekends and public holidays.

How many of us are willing to for more 3 shifts of 8 hours forgoing food and sleep?

So, my answer to the person who copied and pasted that 'elaun kerja' bit from the net is NO!.

No, you cannot have double your salary if you are working one third the time that doctors invest.

No, you cannot earn as much as them and enjoy your weekends off and public holidays.

No, you cannot have their priviledges if you were not willing to slog for five years through medical school, putting your life on hold to make a dream come true. How is it you didn't think it was unfair even to ask?

After all the outrage that has been unjustly vented on this one doctor, my question is who do you depend on when your father or mother has chest pains? Who do you depend on when you little sibling get an astma attack or scalds or bruises themselves? Who do you depend on when you break an arm or a leg? Who saves your brother or your friend who landed in hopsital with their brains and guts spilling out, unconscious or unable to breathe?

We need to stop re-acting and start acting-thoughtfully, calmly and most importantly-rationally!

Perspective.

semua rakyat tau la gov servant most of them makan gaji minum kopi lagi teruk during office hour can cari side income BolehLand ma

Well, for those of you who can see and appreciate perspective, this doctor depends on you now. I am sure he will face the board now in an attempt for the officials and people in power to be seen as doing the right thing.

But you and I know that this is not right, it is not just and there is not honour in what is happening here. So, I hope that you will join me in standing up and doing the right thing.

Well, the rakyat that chose the government and the government is the one running the shows. So don't blame the government, blame yourself. Next election pick wisely, unless you intend to have this nonsenses to continue for another 52years. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE! YOU ARE THE TAX PAYER OF THIS COUNTRY. YOU DECIDE.

Dear Deputy Minister of Federal Territories Datuk M. Saravanan,

Do you think this only happen to hospital? Have you ever spot check on DBKL? the attitude with most of the public servants? One of the BIGGEST problem with Public Servant is they won't get SACK for doing wrong things and is the Biggest mistake the GOVERNMENT of Malaysia have ever make!
so... Datuk... I wonder what can you do about it?

Dato Saravanan opened the treatment room by himself? What if there was a patient under examination in the room? Can she/he sue Saravanan for outraging her/his modesty? Hate it when VIPs treat the hospital like his own house...becoz he is VIP he expects special treatment is it? Will the guards even dare to stop him?

I am persuaded to agree and support the views by Perspective. They are rational, not influenced by emotions and sentiments. A report, to be fair, must contain facts which are true having been verified and confirmed.The report on the incident lacked these elements.

One thing is clear from the reactions to the report whatever grading we attached to it. It gives vent to the public anger and frustration about the public service. This must be taken note of by the Ketua Setiausaha Negara,our top and guardian of public service.t. He gave a very good interview which appeared on Sunday 26-04-09. If the KSN goes to HKL, he need not have to stay in line.

The statement by the Director of HKL , while assuring the public that she would take appropriate actions against the doctors if found justified, is a fair one. She must not allow this incident to demoralise her doctors who are generally a very dedicated and committed lot !! Doctors serving in HKL are stressed by heavy work load. The HKL is a 'mad house', some call it. Whether they like it or not, that is the life of doctors serving in HKL.

I am the father of a doctor serving in HKL. I really pity my daughter doctor. Honestly, the RM4,000.00
plus salary is peanuts compared to the very work load and responsibility she has to shoulder.She can secure more pay in private sector but doing much less work. Despite my numerous attempts in trying to make her leave the government service, she enjoys her duty to mankind, in line with her oath as a doctor, in HKL. I am sure there are many more doctors like her in HKL. It is a known fact that HKL is experiencing a shortage of doctors.

So, in line with what Perspective says, do be wary about the report. What a spin it is playing ? We as intelligent people, should not fall prey to such a spin.Do not be influenced by the inherent biasness in the report.

Any views from parents whose children are serving in Government hospitals ?

He is the last person to know about this? This is damn funny. Don't he know that these nonsense had been the culture in the Gov Hospitals? The poor rakyat had been living in the mercy of these idiots for decades? Anyway, he came, saw, shouted and highlighted. Now BIG news!! Then someone will appear to explain, justify, taichi and cover up. Then few days later, no one remember this issue. And life moves on with the same culture again. Malaysia style. Biasa la.......

I dont understand how some people can be so insensitive and abusive to the Deputy Minister for doing the right thing. Some have even made racially tainted comments. Come on be more matured if you want to comment, dont hit under the belt. Give the man the credit for highlighting these lapses in our government service.

Some are even blaming the Health Minister, why go so far, even the DG of Health has chosen to keep silent on this.

The HKL Director is already in denial mode when the public complains. She has not even investigated the case, instead she is trying to protect her staff and faulting the Deputy Minister for giving the wrong figures of patients. Of course he did not go around to sort out the patients from the family members. But it is a fact that there were 8 patients who were not being attended to at the EMERGENCY, and it is a fact that there were two doctors relaxing inside while the patients were waiting outside. How can anyone explain this weird situation in an EMERGENCY UNIT. The Director of HKL herself should be held responsible for this fiasco. It is her lack of effieiency that resulted in this situation. No one in their senses will give excuses for neglecting patients in the Emergency Unit

I work with doctors in a major public tertiary healthcare facility on a daily basis. If you saw how overworked these dedicated souls are, you'd probably forgive those 2 post-call HOs for taking some time for themselves...

Regardless of whatever work, one who works should work seriously. If one is not serious during working hours, then one spoils his own reputation and the reputation of others who are serious in their work. Doctors are supposed to save lives, especially in an emergency unit. If he thinks that other things are more important than his profession, then he is not going to save lives. A lot of doctors work as hard as the activated robots. Their reputation do not need to be tainted by some rotten apples. Not all public servants are spoiled. There are those serious ones. Too bad the public should meet the spoiled ones most of the time. If public servants were to be really good in their work, then they should not continue to be spoiled. To be serious in one's work is an attitude of the heart. It takes a real big change to happen in the top level management so that changes will happen to the lower category staff. If the top level management is not showing a good example, then even the grassroot level will be indisciplined.

dumbell saravanan has stirred a hornet's nest!!!!! ENJOY THE STINGS!! Dun go for treatment to the doctors you claim lazy and not fit. Treat youreself with some ointment preferably minyak kapak since you are more qualified SO YOU CLAIM!!!!!!

(Perspective), (1-Media & Manipulation) & (Observer)... We salute the postings which bring to light how "the truth be told", "print and be damned" should not be construed to be mere cliches. Amazing how (true) events which befell Dr MLA that eventful prelunch Sunday have been laid bare for readers to draw their conclusions as to what may be right, what may be perceived to be wrong.
Ironically, what was left out was how MICs "Danny deVito wannabe" alleged uttering of .."You are not fit to be a Doctor.." ect failed to see postings. Why should such statements be left out, if "oinments" are mentioned. But what the heck... the events which unfolded did come to light, and not as mentioned over MSM.
The entire event was a paradox of sorts... DdVs outburst (akin to Dato Seri SSVs - his party's father like figure) and the state of the NHS. Revelations like hours put in by the medical officers is construed, in the United Kingdom and EU, to be inhumane and detrimental to patients wellbeing.
Will such issues be addressed is left to the aspiring medical practitioners themselves. They have rights and so do patients. Had the shoe been on the other foot, would one see such responses being elicited.
As for the DdVito wannabe, he should only look back to the days spent at "hospital quarters" and lets not hope the outburst was a result of his roughneck upbringing amongst the famed narcotics distribution squalor.
Furthermore, should there be much reservations about the quality of treatment at the ER, he can always seek a professional opinion from his fellow party official, who was of the view that a "still alive" suicide victim would be able seek better treatment in Klang.
Now what was said..."The triage at GHKLs ER leaves much to be desired..." or something to that effect.

Many years ago, I had to send my brother-in-law to KLGH to see a specialist; thoght he was a very senior Orang Gomen, he made his appointment and followed the instructions as scheduled by the very busy specialist. While waiting for the specialist who also involved in organzing some international seminar around the same time, I could see he was really frustrated to the extent he cursed the what he claimed was a stupid system. Being an acclaimed stomach specialist, to retain him, they had to promote him to do adminstrative work! The very design of a non-thinking civil service!
Okay back to my story, while we were waiting, there was this guy literally shouting in a loud voice demanding to see this specialist. Having heard the shouting and obviously the harassment on his assisting nurse, he came out of his consulting room and confronted this pateint as to what was his problem with all the commotion. This patient produced a letter that he claimed was given by the Minister of Health and hence entitled to see the specialist without an appointment! What the good docter did indeed surprised all of us. He asked for the letter and tore it and told the man to come back the following month as he would see no one without a proper appointment!!
Anyway having attended to my brother-in-law for a while, he also disappeared to, I was told, Canada to become a professor or consulting specialist!