Visual Screening at SK MELAWA

Sk Melawa. Small school of Sabah.

1. Today our Professor (Prof P.Muthusamy), the one i described in my earlier post bring us to SK Melawa for some project. Actually, it was our school postgraduate student research project i think. I also did not know actually what research they are conducting... just following my professor cause he looks so energetic and bring us along. It was fun and interesting. We got a free breakfast too. haha.

2. When i step into that school, then i realized that the school look familiar with my primary school, around 15 years ago. Sabah really pity, in time where most of the school in Malaysia, particularly West Malaysia, including my hometown Labuan got this high tech school with 3 floors building and have so many kind of facilities, this school that i visited this morning is just a school with classroom, a small resource center, and a canteen.... it is like walking in the past. After 15 years, there is still school like this. What happen?

3. I believed that some people up there does not do their work. Why don't gave this school at least a new building, even though not big, but maybe better than just a wooden and small school like this.

4. Enough says, I just want to express my enjoyable time this morning. I think the fun started all by Prof Muthusamy. He was so energetic and student orientated. What a brilliant lecturer he is. If all lecturer are like this, medical study would not be boring after all.
The arrival of UMS Medical students..grand..grand.

My colleague aldrin screening the visual acquity using Prof Muthusamy Vision chart. He create the chart to substitute Snellen's Chart. It is called Muthu's Vision A4 chart. Very reproducible.

Me and my girlfriends

Our prof...

Breakfast is one reason why we were there...












Using Autorefractor machine..

Doing good work for the children..















Our team....

Another lecturer gone

1. Another lecturer left us last week. The situation is different this time. This is because, this lecturer just left like that without informing properly thus all the schedule become a mess. I myself have to rearrange everything.

2. I am so glad that we have a brilliant professor teaching us. At first, i just think that he was a professor like everybody else but to know that he is one of the best in the world and he is well recognized through out the world make me proud. I don't believe that a brilliant person like him is teaching me right now.

3. When he flip the oxford book of clinical specialties, there it is, his name was there in Eye chapter. And to search the internet, i found that he has his own award that is to be given to the brilliant postgraduate from Ediburgh. Wow.

4. And he like to tell us his story. And i like to listen.

5. I want to be like him someday. Own my own 'Zaki's award', have my name in oxford clinical specialties book, or maybe in other books, Kumar and Clerk maybe..haha.. this is my dream. And i want to be on the level where, everyone is same level as me or below.

6. Did i mention that i want to become an infectious disease specialist. MAybe sub-specialty in something like TB, or maybe malaria. I like those topics and i haven't change my mind since my first year of study. Even though the professor i mentioned above told us all to become an ophthalmologist, but i am not so interested in eyes. I do not know why.

7. ' When you excel in your study, and get a big title, you will walk tall and have to look below to see people, even though physically you are small and short'..... - my prof said.

CSL Phone

1. I bought a new CSL phone. Only RM325 for a phone look so much like nika 6300 plus 1 gb of memory card.

THis phone quite nice you know, It have this bluetooth, pm3 and mp4 player, e-book reader, i even get second battery for free and also screen guard, charger, car charger, ear phone, and 15 months warranty.

This is my second day of using this phone. I'm testing the battery. It's been a quite busy day for me yesterday and today, call so many people (work purpose). And the battery still can be use until today. I hope it can last for 3 days or else, it will be the same as the other cheap handphone where their battery couldn't last long.

2. I am so busy for the last 2 day since one of our lecturer just left us unannounced. So every lecture and class with her have to be replace rapidly by anyone from Queen Hospital. the workload of arranging the class schedule was dupm on me and our posting coordinator. I was kind of, frust, and like i want to give up being the group leader of this posting. By the way, being a group leader is a work by force for free.

3. Now i'm start thinking about it. I do half of my posting coordinator work, or at least a quarter, but i did not get any payment for my work. Only work and work. This is not fair. I thought being a group leader is only taking attendace, relay information from lecturer to my colleague, but then it turn out to be, arranging the schedule for the posting, it is quite difficult. I have to call all the doctor involved in this posting whether from HQE or UMS and make them comply to the schedule or else, i will be in trouble.

Serve for the right

When our beloved lecturer Dr. Khaing Khaing Myint left us last week, I was a little puzzled on why she is leaving us after so many years being with us.

She was one of the best teacher I ever meet in my life. The way she teach us, is different , as other lecturer trying to give us plenty of knowledge that we must know, she only teach us the basic and make sure that we understand even if it only for a few things. In the end I realized that it is better to understand something rather than remembering everything and understand nothing.

Last week Saturday after a heavy lecture on Saturday morning, we asked one of our lecturer regarding why Dr.Khaing Khaing Myint leave UMS. The answer was so touching.

It is just simply because she want to serve her country which is in crisis right now after Nargis tragedy a few months ago. We were told that even the payment in UMS is much better than in Myanmar, but it serving her own country is one responsibility for her and it cannot be compared to money or anything else.

We were touched.

Is there any other people who would think like that?

I bet that there are not so many people like her in this world.

Simply put, like me, I would like to serve in Sabah rather than in my hometown in Labuan because if you served in sabah, you would get extra RM900 allowance. I am totally not like her. I never think of serving on my own place.

But, sabah and Labuan make no difference at all, still I am serving my country Malaysia. But, I think that someday, if someone give me an option of 1. money and overseas and 2. No money and Malaysia, I would choose no 1. Definitely.

Haha.

But now I am thinking as my beloved ENT lecturer was thinking. Serving for the right people. Maybe later I would consider option no 2. …..

Some people changed..

Our last day with Dr.Khaing Khaing Myint, our ENT lecturer.

By the way, this is my ENT posting group, still the same. Picture taken in our lecture room in Riverside Clinical Block. I was at the back. Only my head can be visualized. Haha. Interested in anyone in this picture, give me an email or something then... :-)

Clinical skills

1. I want to buy a new handphone with camera, where i can take picture anytime and share it with the world. So many fascinating event happen yet i can't share it with others.

2. Why most people never think of doing their housemenship or work in Sabah? I found that since i was in my first year of study, Sabah is a very interesting place to study medicine. So many disease that you can see here in Sabah.

3. Tuberculosis is a friendly neigbourhood here in Sabah. You have some disease, it could be TB for everything. There is also plenty of nasopharyngeal carcinoma here. I can call Sabah as a land of all disease today. haha.

4. Now in ENT posting, everyday i can see nasopharyngeal carcinoma. It is so interesing about this carcinoma. It's curable, that is what make it so interesting.

5. I learn a lot in this posting. In fact, i learn a lot from every posting. I am a little dissapointed when some of medical student that i know, hesitate to work here in Sabah. I was really fortunate to study medicine here, and i am planning to work here before i go to somewhere else latter. who knows?

6. 'Forget all the expensive diagnostic device, just give me a plain x-ray', this is one quote from a consultant here. This quote reflect on how clinical skills and basic investigation can be very useful to diagnose a disease without using any expensive device, and this will nurture your thinking and make you a great doctor.

7. My clinical skills is quite bad i think. Not because i did not study, or practice, but because i sometimes have this feeling of being lazy and always jump to the end and forget all the minor thing in between. I want to train myself to pick up every small thing that i left behind.

8. Even i still have one and a half year more before graduating, but truly i realize how clinical skills is so important in medicine. Almost every posting i/ we were scolded because we lack of clinical skills. Sometimes, i feel that i am already perfect, but in the end, i left something.

9. Clinical skills is really important. If I were asked ' What advice would you give to your junior in medicine' i will said ' practice their clinical skills'. I also did not know how would someone become so good in their clinical skills or are they just bluff around and look perfect. One orthopaedic consultant told me a few months ago, " Medical study is like an art, you act good, you could pass every exam easily".

10. Is it really about acting? Only acting? So every doctor is just an actor? I don't think so. Yes, you can pass every exam with acting and bluffing, but to work later, it would be a problem. So the safest way is to be really good in clinical skils.

11. A few days ago, our deputy dean show her frustration to me, i know, my clinical skills is below average or maybe maximally at the average. I want to practice more on clinical skills. But i was so lazy. haha. I rather sit down and watch some movie than going to the ward and clerk a patient.

12. Honestly, we are asked to clerk 30 patient for every 7 weeks posting and submit our clerking sheet at the end of posting. I remember that from 30 cases, i only clerk maybe 19-20 patients and the other 10, i copied it from my colleague. It was really tiring.

13. When people heard about 30 clerksheet, they must say that it look easy, but it was hard, you know. You have to clerk a patient then follow up until he/she is discharge, and you have to do it 30 times. Our deputy dean also told us that she had to clerk 60 cases during her housemenship, this make me chills. If 30 cases i could not do, what about 60?

14. 30 clerk sheet plus 2 cases report, then have to study for exam, and preparing for bedside, seminar, sgd, ward work procedure, and attend other things such as CME, lab, everything was tiring. Medical student life is sucks, yet it is enjoyable.

15. At last, i am in Combined speacialty posting nowadays, currently in ENT, later anesthesia and ophthalmo, i like this posting very much. why? Because i did not have to clerk 30 cases. However, it became much more tiring, because we have to attend clinical at 8.00 o'clock, clerk and present cases, until 12.00 pm, then lecture start at 1 pm until 5 pm, go on call after that, or have to go to the ward to clerk cases and submit 2 cases report within this 2 weeks. Arr..


I miss my relaxing time during boarding school, my time during matriculation college, and all my time during 1st year and 2nd year of study.

I miss my past..... but i really enjoy my present... i am looking forward for my future.



This picture taken when we are in District posting in Papar a few months ago. It was the best posting i ever had. All the staff there are nice. The hospital enviroment is also nice. If i were to admit to the hospital, i would choose Papar Hospital. Food is also nice there, i really love it.