YOURSAY | Let the investigation put an end to bully docs

YOURSAY | ‘In short, do not treat it like the 1MDB ‘never ever ending’ story.’

All seven in ‘bully doctor list’ to undergo internal probe

Excos list seven hospital 'bullies' to MOH

Mazilamani: Let the investigation prevent further loss of lives of trainee medical doctors. Parents make enough sacrifices to put their children through medical-related institutions.

The minister has to show urgency to dig deep into this matter to send out targeted messages to senior doctors, matrons and nursing sisters, or the bullying will continue for years to come.

Fair and stringent measures may save the lives of abused doctors.

Not many realise this - many doctors hastily leave after completing their compulsory service and after securing their practising certificate. The cert permits them to work in a private establishment or open their own practice.

We may be sweeping the issues of ailing government hospitals, promotions, preferential treatment, forced overwork, as well as inhumane and demoralising treatment of trainees by senior doctors under the carpet.

Sadly, it is not that the Health Ministry is not in the know of the abuses, but there is protectionism practised by heads of departments and medical directors of government hospitals which goes unreported.

Start respecting and recognising the good work of junior or trainee doctors.

Chokstone: Bullying happens when the bully has overwhelming power over a dependent or subordinate.

Obviously, our medical training system has created an abundance of ‘sick’ doctors, where they have absolute power to dictate the future of the junior doctors' medical careers.

There are more than seven of these bully doctors. The difference is the severity of their ‘sickness’. These bully senior doctors should be dragged to see psychiatrists, and be put on a watchlist.

Headhunter: For years we read in the news about bullying but nothing much was done. Does it always take death for them to take action?

And what about doctors working long hours, which was a leading cause of stress? And yet we are told there are many unemployed doctors because there are no vacancies for them.

Apart from that, we also see very poor quality doctors being churned out from our universities.

Frank: It is of utmost importance that the speed in getting to the truth is the aim, with equitable punishment taking place right after, while of course, fairness for everyone concerned is achieved.

In short, do not treat it like the 1MDB ‘never ever ending’ story. If you do that, it is just going to be another reason, in a long, long list of reasons, for the ringgit to go down further and more suffering for Malaysians.

The world is watching, again. Malaysia today is at a crossroads. You have been warned.

Citizen22: The independent task force should have been set up to investigate last week when the complaints surfaced.

There is a lack of urgency in attending to this matter in the ministry. Are they hoping the issue will die down by itself?

Those guilty of bullying must be punished irrespective of their status. It is a crime, and lacks professional integrity and ethics.

Scarecrow: “While I see these allegations as being serious, as a minister, I cannot take action on accusations made on social media."

Yes, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, only ‘Bossku’ and ministers like you can use social media for official communication.

The rakyat, on the other hand, cannot use social media but must be made to go through the trouble with various red tape to communicate legitimate concerns to the government.

The Wakandan: I just want to say again that this bullying thing is cultural among the medical fraternity. It may be hard to swallow.

Today a house officer is being bullied, tomorrow he will do the same to his juniors or perhaps even worse.

As testified by some sadistic doctors themselves, bullying is not necessarily a bad thing but a necessary evil to make junior doctors learn and remember important practices in medicine.

If you go to any department, you can recognise this pattern - it was done by the senior specialist before and the one taking over who had been disciplined invariably will assume similar behaviour.

That's how they learn - hands-on, and their god who can never do any wrong is their senior. So, the passing of the tradition. It’s quite pathetic though, simply because nobody wants to break the vicious cycle.

Maya: @The Wakandan, it is not that other workplaces have no bullying. It is because this is a government department. So, the public will ‘hantam’ (criticise) to get answers.

Because otherwise, no action is taken. Someone covers up or they are left in cold storage until they are reassigned.

Just take the teachers responsible for the period spot checks. What happened to that? There has been no action until today. Or perhaps, no action can be taken.

In private workplaces, they just pack up and leave for greener pastures.

GoldenPigeon0510: The civil service should address disciplinary issues properly instead of just transferring staff.

Staff involved in wrongdoings like corruption, indiscipline and incompetence are often transferred out; no real punishment or corrective action is taken.

That’s why problems are never solved and the standard of work does not improve.

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