Great Time

Really having a great time these few days, after coming back to KL from Sibu for good. Enjoying big and nice meals everyday; movies in excellent cineplexes; parents and siblings to chit chat with... think of it, really should have come home earlier! ;)

Will be reporting to the state health office on Monday to find out which hospital I will be placed in. Hopefully they won't give me hospital faraway from home! Well, till then, keeping my fingers crossed.

And I think I will change my blog title description to "KL Doc in Sarawak, Now Back In KL" !! :)

Good Bye Sibu

After the horrifying incident lately, I have managed to settle it and revert everything back to normal. And so my transfer letter was processed and given the green light by KKM to transfer me back to Selangor, starting on 2/7/07.

One week of packing up stuff, and yesterday the forwarding agent has come to collect all my belongings. I have managed to also settle all the bills, rental, cancellation of Astro, Streamyx etc... earlier on.

2 days ago, I even gave a lunch for my department colleagues and nurses. Thanks to all the gifts they have given me. Although I felt very sad (nearly tears coming out) during the speech, I could luckily control my emotion and went on till the whole function was over.

Sibu is a fantastic place to be in. Although u might say it's a bit backward compared to where I come from, it is still a nice place to live in and to work as a doctor in the GH. I miss Sibu alot... the kampua mee, the gong-pneah, the less hectic traffic, the nice people around. :)

Nevertheless, it's come a time when everyone needs to move on. I have to come back to KL for good. Have bought a house here, and my wife is already in the Master program.

Maybe someday, I will still go back to Sibu, just to say hello to all my fellow colleagues, nurses and also my most beloved specialists and HOD there in Sibu Hospital!

Good bye Sibu, the town of swan, till we meet again some time in future.

Horrifying Truth (Part 4 - conclusion)

And so the night before meeting up with Dr Mazlan, I was really depressed and in the state of shock, that I needed to pay back the govt the whole lump sum of money which I was apparently paid over these years! Just calculate and u will know how much the total amount is!

As I was thinking and thinking... I was staring at the computer screen hoping for some clue. Then a bell rang, I fired up FireFox and went into Google to try my luck -- I typed in the doctor's name (which was on the letter I saw that morning), and then hit the enter key.

Holy gracious! There was a doctor by that name, and best of all, his handphone number was also on the search page! Thanks Google! Immediately I called up the doctor and explained to him what had happened -- just sheer unbelievable but he was also very stunned to hear such thing could happen! But anyway, long story short, I felt such a relief that the whole situation was slowly shedding some light at the other end of the tunnel.

The next morning, first thing at 8am, I called up the SB and the officer in charge to explained to them I have found the error which had possibly been unintentional. They were puzzled to hear that as well, and they promised to call me back in a moment after they check with KKM and JPA side.

Moments later, I got a phone call from the officer from KKM human resources, stating that everything seemed to be under control, and let KKM settle this whole mess. They advised me to return to Sibu to resume work, meanwhile they will issue letters to all respective depts to clarify this whole problem.

With this, after being a detective myself for 2 long weeks, I finally found out that it was afterall an unintentional (or was it intentional?) error. At least now that I have resumed my position as a medical officer under KKM. What a narrow escape.

I received an apology letter one week later from KKM.

Lessons I learned from this horrifying incident:

1. Do complete your 3 year compulsory govt service before resigning to Master program, otherwise u will be in deep shit later on.

2. Never trust what the govt sector officers tell u over the phone, u still have to be a good detective urself to find out the truth.

3. It's still hold true in Malaysia, as the saying goes,"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

Horrifying Truth (Part 3)

I met up with Ismail, and explained the whole thing to him from the beginning till the end; he was speechless initially, but then he delegated this case to the Human Resource section head, ie. Setiausaha Bahagian (SB) to take over this matter, and he did emphasise to the SB that this is of top priority and urgency.

And so I made an appointment the same afternoon itself, skipping my lunch, to meet up with the SB. I was, and in fact I am, very surprised to know that there are still such dedicated and helpful govt officer in the MOH; with smiling face throughout, good patience and knowledgable in her field, and on top of all these -- she had a vast network of contacts which helped me through this shit this time. (I really hope this is herself, and not because I was introduced to her by Ismail...)

She then summoned another officer in charged to bring in my MOH personal file to run through with me the whole scenario. I demanded them to show me the so called "black and white" which MOH received and subsequently cc to the respective depts about my resignation.

To my surprise, the name on the letter of approval of resignation, was NOT my name, although at one glance it actually spelt out like my name!! The IC number was indeed mine and correct though. Date of approval was printed 1/4/05, but then I only did send in my resignation/transfer of service application in mid Feb; with a cancellation letter of my resignation in April. Everything seemed in place, and valid for the resignation (although I doubt MOH and JPA were so efficient in processing my application!)

According to the MOH officer who was summoned in by the SB, that his team had confirmed with JPA and SPA that my name was no longer in their list; and that although there is typo-error in the letter, everyone will follow the IC number instead. Therefore, my resignation is valid.

Stunned I was, and almost accepting the fact and fate that I am no longer in service, and that I have done a full 2 1/2 years of free service for the govt, coz I need to pay back the amount of salary I received over this months! Shocking and depressing it was...

But the SB consoled me that her team could help me out to meet up with MMC personnel to work out something for my 3-year compulsory service. And so an appointment was made to see Dr Mazlan the following day...

To be continued...

Happy Father's Day!

Amidst my blog to uncover the Horrifying Truth, let's not forget to wish all fathers or fathers-to-be ... a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! :)

Horrifying Truth (Part 2)

I touched down in KL the very same day I was "suspended from duty", and because it was a very last minute purchase of air ticket, it cost me RM299++ for that Air Asia one way ticket! And with a little delay taking off from Sibu, I reached LCCT almost midnight.

The very next day, I was full of hope that I could meet up with someone in the MOH to settle this issue; but as usual, in Malaysia govt dept, it is never easy to meet up with anyone. So one day just passed by like that.... without any advancement.

And because my compulsory years are "incomplete", therefore I don't comply with the Medical Act article 71, and so I cannot practice in this country. Goodness. My mind was just confused and in the dark... helpless. At one point, I thought of flying to Singapore; and at another time, I thought if UK/Ireland/Aussie was a better choice -- just pure torture.

I couldn't even do locum or join private GP practice, just because I am not a doctor at this point of time; I am neither here (MOH) nor there (private world). Depressed I was. Can't imagine my parents spent their whole fortune including EPF money, just to get me a degree in medicine, but now, I am not better than any uni drop-outs! Jobless was the word at that time.

2nd day... 3rd day... nothing.

Then weekends. Yeah... Great!

Ismail Merican was my only hope that time. Because he is not only the DG of health, he is also the MMC president -- who can resolve my 3-year compulsory service issue. I wasn't too sure if he could resolve my reversal of resignation involving SPA and JPA etc.... But at that very moment of time, I told myself to be strong; and that if my resignation couldn't be reversed, I must find a way out in private, either to join GP practice or go Singapore, leaving behind my expecting wife ...*sob*.

With some contacts with the high ranked personnel in the govt body, I managed to bring this issue, finally, up to Ismail Merican. He was very upset with this issue and promised to see me personally to rectify whatever shit that has happened, or rather he wants to know how could this shit happened in the first place!

But luck was not on my side initially. He was then in Boston for a while, and then came back with function in Sunway, and then hundreds and hundreds of meetings/issues etc. to attend to. I don't blame him, as he is afterall a busy man holding this post. And so, I could not get any appointment with him.

After another few days of waiting patiently, jobless staying at home helping out mum with dishes and gardening, I finally found another high ranked insider with contact, and managed to book a 15-minute slot over lunch time to be with Ismail Merican. I thought that was it! But...

To be continued...

Horrifying Truth (Part 1)

And so a little about the background story:

Back in 2005, I was indeed invited by UNIMAS to join their trainee lecturer program, and hence I needed to transfer my service years to MOE; so a letter was sent to MOH but the content included a phrase that I needed to resign with permission (in order to do the transfer of service). That time, I hadn't completed my 3 year compulsory service.

However, later I found out that UNIMAS medical faculty and human resources couldn't come to certain terms and conditions (it's a long story, but probably confidential and not suitable for me to publish here), and so I was so angry at that time I revoked everything, including sending another letter to MOH to cancel my resignation .

That time, the MOH person in charged told me that since my case had not been brought up in the MOH meeting, my resignation was actually not processed. So everything went back to normal. I continued to work in Sibu, and I continued to get my monthly payroll, including my yearly increment. Everything seemed smooth sailing, until...

When my wife started her Master program this June, I asked for a transfer back to Peninsular. And this was when the MOH found out that I had resigned according to their record! :O

But the big question mark is: If I had resigned 2 years ago, then how come I didn't receive any letter to confirm my resignation? Not even my hospital or the state office received any black and white on this. But MOH insisted that they had sent out to all the respective depts, including SPA/JPA!! (When you know SPA is involved, you are in deep shit!)

And so, with that phone call, I was immediately "terminated" from work, and I flew back to KL to start looking for clues to solve this mystery.

To be continued...

Long Silence...

It's been a long silence since I last blogged in April. These past two months had been really happening! And of coz, really busy!

Attempted my part 2 written paper in Singapore, but didn't make it thru this round; official result was out today, and I realise I missed by 1 mark! Sigh, probably will try harder next time! And of coz to pray for more luck next round! ;)

Then came the most horrendous news mid of last month, when my hospital received news from MOH that I was no longer in govt service since 2005 -- ie. resigned! Unimaginable! That news came about, and I was immediately "terminated" from service in my hospital. Everyone from top to bottom were shocked, but clueless. I was myself stunned by the news too!

Stay tuned for the true horrifying tale uncovered...

Upgrade To WM5

Few days ago, I tried to upgrade my Dell Axim x50v from WM2003SE to WM2005 ROM, and after a heart-pounding 30minutes, my x50v had turned into x51v-like pocket pc!

However, after installing all the necessary softwares which I use everyday, I fired up a few programs, like Spb Finance, Resco Pic Viewer and Pocket Informant; to my disappointment, my PPC now crawled like turtle speed, or probably should I say, snail speed! Can you imagine after clicking on the Resco Pic Viewer icon, it took me 10-12 seconds before I am in the program. That's just way too slow, and totally unacceptable.

After googling around for solution, I am surprised to see that I am not alone; many people have also experienced the similar problem -- slowing down of performance. Looks like the x50v is not meant for WM5 afterall!

And so I decided to revert it back to WM2003SE ROM, which could be downloaded from the Dell Support website. But the disaster came -- I could not flash my ROM properly back into my x50v!! And my PPC hanged after the ROM flashing completed!! True disaster!

Now my itchy hands have caused me a bomb... I was really thinking of immediately purchasing a new x51v, as the PIKOM offer is still on (RM1218 inclusive of delivery), and my x50v warranty was no longer valid. After calling Dell, the support team gave me a very good suggestion -- ie. to renew my x50v warranty, which will only cost RM100; and immediately they can do a one-to-one exchange for me, and I shall get a new x50v!! ;)

Now, I am still waiting for the Dell Warranty Dept to give me a ring, in order to proceed with my renewal of my PPC warranty.

Lesson of the day: When it ain't broken, don't fix it!

RM5 Off Next Pizza

I was at the Pizza Hut over lunch time, and decided to purchase the Lunch Combo Special. It was clearly stated on their pamplet that if the pizza was not served by 15 minutes, they would give a RM5 off voucher for the next visit.

I started counting down right from the time the bill reached my desk; it was printed 13:40 and I started waiting eagerly for the pizza. The clock started ticking away and there was no sign of my pizza. 1:49pm... 1:54pm... then 1:56pm!! Yesss, the pizza wansn't on my table yet, and I could see the waiters and waitresses were walking around, not busy at all! (I would have given them more grace period if they were busy at that time, but they weren't!)

And so I waved at one of the waitresses and demanded my RM5 off voucher. To my surprise, she passed on to her colleague (possibly a more senior one) and the waiter tried to brush me off by saying he wasn't aware of such thing (although it was CLEARLY printed on their advertisement all over the tables and walls).... I pointed at my iPaq rw6828 on the table, with the Resco Audio Recorder running, and told him,"Sir, u better watch out what u r saying, as i am recording down whatever u r saying right from the beginning..."

I could see his face suddenly turned pale, and with a smile, he told me he would get his supervisor. The pizza came at 2:01pm, and while eating, I could see the whole bunch of waiters and waitresses gathering around the cashier counter, whispering to each other.

Few minutes later, the supervisor came, and politely she apologised to me (meanwhile, I could sense that she knew my gadget was still recording the whole conversation) and she explained to me why the pizza was late -- I told her I was not interested to know how the pizza came late, but just wanted to know if she would honor Pizza Hut's claim about the RM5 off voucher.

She smiled and said,"Of course!" And there she handed over to me a RM5 off voucher.

I think if I hadn't got my PDA doing the magic of turning the waiter's face pale, I wouldn't have possibly got my RM5 voucher (knowing Malaysian mentality -- they would have given me all sorts of excuses!)

I think I have to use my PDA recording feature more often in the future for potential legal actions and to protect myself. I even plan to use it during my conversation with my patients especially sensitive issues are being discussed.

Addendum:
I came across this comment by the public in The Star dated 6/7/2006, whereby the Pizza Hut refused to compensate the RM5 voucher.

Medical Specialty Aptitude Test

After reading Tauke Fooji's blog about the Aptitude Test he tried out online, I gave it a try as well to see if I was in the correct field so far... And true enough my result turned out to be Paediatrics ranked number one! Well, so looks like this is the field I must continue to strive hard on! ;)

Special High Intensity Training

Here is another joke I kept in my diskette since 1990! But I think it's a really innovative one! :)

TO: All Employees
From: Management
Subject: Special High Intensity Training

In order to assure the highest levels of quality work and productivity from employees, it will be our policy to keep all employees welltrained through our progrom of Special High Intensity Training (S.H.I.T.). We are trying to give employees more S.H.I.T. than anyone else.

If you feel that you do not receive your share of S.H.I.T. on the job, please see your manager. You will be immediately placed at the top of the S.H.I.T. list, and our managers are especially skilled at seeing that you get all the S.H.I.T. you can handle.

Employees who don't take their S.H.I.T. will be placed in Departmental Employee Evaluation Programs (D.E.E.P S.H.I.T.). Those who fail to take D.E.E.P. S.H.I.T. seriously will have to go to Eployee Attitude Training (E.A.T. S.H.I.T.). Since our managers took S.H.I.T. before they were promoted, they don't have to do S.H.I.T. anymore, and are all full of S.H.I.T. already.

If you are full of S.H.I.T., you may be interested in a job training others. We can add your name to our Basic Understanding Lecture List. (B.U.L.L. S.H.I.T.).

Those who are full of B.U.L.L. S.H.I.T. will get the S.H.I.T.jobs, and can apply for promotion to Director Of Intensity Programming (D.I.P. S.H.I.T.).

If you have further questions, please direct them to our Head Of Training, Special High Intensity Training (H.O.T.S.H.I.T.).

Thank you,
Boss In General, Special High Intensity Training (B.I.G. S.H.I.T.)

3-Minute Management Course

I have actually read these jokes long time ago, but recently my friend emailed me again, and I think they are worth being posted here to share with those of you who need a quick 3-minute moral education! ;)

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up
her shower, when the doorbell rings The wife quickly wraps herself
in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you ?800 to drop that
towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and
stands naked in front of Bob.

After a few seconds, Bob hands her ?800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When
she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the ?800 he
owes me?"

Moral of the story : If you share critical information pertaining to
credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a
position to prevent avoidable exposure

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs,
forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his
hand.

But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun
once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak." Arriving
at the convent, the nun went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm
129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you
might miss a great opportunity

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to
lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie
comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the
Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii,
relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply
of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I
want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small
rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do
nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of
a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be
sitting very, very high up

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get
to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the
energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the
bull. They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him
enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next
day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the
top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't
keep you there

Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the
bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was
lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to
realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He
lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of
cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!


And so, this ends the 3-minute management course. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Good Friday & Kuan Yin Birthday

Today is 6 April -- a public holiday in Sarawak. It's Good Friday. Co-incidentally, it is also the 19th day of second lunar month, which is the birthday of God of Mercy (Kuan Yin). It's therefore an auspicious day for both Christians/Catholics and Buddhists.

Snack Attack!

I just came back from KL after a 3-day break. It was rather refreshing, and of coz it was a home sweet home experience.

Took AirAsia on the return flight, and despite some 20-minute delay, everything was rather tolerable. My wife and I didn't take any meal at the LCCT, becoz we arrived almost around the boarding time, so we feared that we didn't have enough time for a meal at the fully packed McDonald's.

We decided to go for the inflight meal, Snack Attack, instead (which is the usual way we fill our tummies during the 2 hour journey!) However, this time, we did a big mistake for not eating something before boarding the flight.

As the stewardess approached us and asked in the usual friendly manner,"Sir, what would u like to have?" And I replied,"Nasi lemak for me, and a fried mee hoon for my wife." But to my horror, she explained,"I'm sorry but there is nothing left, except for biscuits and Mamee vegetarian noodle!"

Gosh! Instant noodle left?! And yet the in flight stewardess just announced earlier that "AirAsia practises no outside food"... they don't prepare enough food for the passengers, and yet prohibit us from taking outside food on board?! WTF?

As I was still hesitating for a few seconds, the stewardess made a funny face, and whispered to me,"It's the last cup of instant noodle, do u still want it?" And right away, with my tummy growling, I responded,"OK! I TAKE IT!" (kiasu!)

And true enough, that was the last cup of noodle. The few passengers after me, were left with only biscuits and cup cakes. No more hot meal available! I could imagine how they salivate looking at me and my wife sharing that hot and nice noodle! ;)

So, the RM5 instant noodle had instantly become the most sought after food on board! What an irony... I still have those similar cup noodle at home, which most of them already approaching expiry date, and yet I have not even touched them! :)