Gov't bureaucracy will lead to Harapan losing public support

LETTER | Pakatan Harapan politicians have expressed surprise at their massive loss in Tanjong Piai by-election.

They need to realise that when people are struggling through difficult economic times, government officials enforcing bureaucratic regulations that increase unproductive paperwork add to daily stress and lead to Harapan losing public support.

I have run a cardiology clinic for 25 years, and numerous ministry inspections found my psychotropic medication records to be in order. 

However, at the November 2019 inspection, I was presented with a warning letter for breaking the Poison Act 1952, Section 30(5), Item 19, because the name and clinic number were entered in the record book without details of the passport/IC and address.

In recording the name and clinic number, I am immediately able to access the details of a patient, since the name, clinic number, passport and IC together with the address are all already written into three separate books in the clinic.

Ministry officials do not seem to have closely read the Poison Act, since it does not call for all the information to be recorded together in the same record book, with Item 22 specifically stating that one can "keep and maintain any register under these regulations".

The makers of the law thus obviously wanted the necessary patient information to be recorded so that all receiving the medication can be identified and traced to their addresses, without demanding that a particular book must contain all these data together.

Each different psychotropic drug needs a separate book, and all areas of a hospital where these drugs are used, keep individual records with significant shelf space taken up by these books.

Most hospital wards similarly record only the name and identification number of the patient. If the ministry insists that passport and address details also be recorded, nurses will have less time to dispense medication, attend to the sick needing attention, or help out in a resuscitation.

Bed space for patients and ward corridors will likely have to be reduced to make way for more shelves to hold the record books.

I use very little psychotropic drugs and am surprised ministry officers focused on these records without showing any interest in how much time I spend on the patient, the fairness of my charges, my ethics or clinical competency.

Is it the Harapan government's policy to force an increase in the paperwork so that a large number of unemployed healthcare graduates can find a job?

Government hospitals and clinics are overcrowded with long waiting times to see a specialist, for tests and treatment.

Instead of focusing on inspecting paperwork, should not the Health Ministry direct its officers to spend their time and energy to improve patient clinical experiences such as comforting those in pain, and shortening the wait for clinics and surgery?

When patients and relatives see an improvement in the quality of government service, Harapan will reap its reward at the ballot boxes.

DR ONG HEAN TEIK is a consultant cardiologist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.