Origins

Back in November 2011 I found out that upon completion of my houseman ship in Kajang Hospital I was to be transferred to Sarawak. Where exactly in Sarawak was not mentioned in the letter as is was the tradition of the Ministry of Health. This did not come as a surprise as I was the one who put in the request to be transferred to Borneo, be it Sarawak or Sabah. Upon knowing this Iris suggested that I should write about my experience working here, and the best way is of course via a blog. Thus this will be where I shall document my life in this new place that I have never been to and have heard so little about.

Where to start?

I suppose the best place to begin is at the end. As Semisonic would put it: “Every beginning is from some other beginning’s end.”

My last call as a “Paediatric MO” in Kajang Hospital was remarkably uneventful. I guess this was expected as my usual calls were usually rather “exciting”. We finished early that day - 19 Nov 2011 – as me and Saw had to go to IJN for a paediatric grand ward round (which turned out to be rather interesting and a nice addition to my CPD total). After which I just went home and did.... nothing.

The next few days were a flurry of activities; first my sister and I went back to Machang to sort some family matters regarding land etc. Inheritance issues are very sensitive and are best solved at the first opportunity. My late grandfather made the decision that he made for no other reason than to keep the family together, which is sure to fracture if Mek is no longer around (she is perhaps the only reason left for me to ever visit Machang any more really).

That took 2 days. On the way back we were held up by a fallen tree just after Gua Musang. There was almost a festive atmosphere amongst the road users whilst waiting for the tree to be cleared.

Sarawak first contact

On 24 Nov 2011 I took a flight to Kuching. On the previous day I had to show up at Kajang Hospital to collect my report in letter. I didn’t say goodbye to my previous department as when I turned up at the ward, everyone seemed so stressed that I figured it would perhaps be a bad idea to show my face there. Instead I left a chocolate cake in the pantry.

I stayed in a rather decent hotel next to Sarawak General Hospital and reported in to the Sarawak State Health Department on 25 Nov 2011 as was instructed. This was what happened:

“Dr boleh tunggu sekejap tak? Pn Ooi tengah meeting.”

“Erm, jadi saya kena dating balik pukul berapa?”

“Jam 10.30 boleh,”

So wondered around the hospital for about one and a half hours before showing up again at the office at 10.30 am as promised.

“Meeting tak habis lagi lah. Lepas ni diorang pergi lunch break so maybe tak sempat. So dating balik pukul 2.30 lah”

This is surprisingly not surprising nor was it anything out of the ordinary when it comes to dealing with the Malaysian government. So I went around Kuching town and showed up again at 2.30pm as was promised.

“Dr tunggu sekejap lagi boleh tak?  Meeting tak habis lagi,”

Now to those of you who are not used to working with the government of 1Malaysia (Rakyat didahulukan pencapaian diutamakan bla bla bla), this could easily throw anyone into a fit of rage. However, I have had the benefit of serving the government for 2 years prior to this and have somehow developed a certain degree of tolerance to having to wait indefinitely to meet someone.

However at around 4.00pm I got really nervous as my return flight was at 8pm and I was concerned that I may not make it. Finally word was passed on to me that I was to be posted to Sibu. In the end, I didn’t meet Pn Ooi.

Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sarawak, located within the compounds of Sarawak General Hospital

The jamban in Kuching Airport is quite clean. There's piss in there.