Sunday, 20 December 2015

The Journey has Begun

I have graduated from medical school for about 4 months now.

I went on a stage all dolled-up and received my symbolic scroll 2 months ago.

The actual MBBS degrees, two separate papers proclaiming my qualifications in Bahasa and English apiece, were collected a month ago.

My job offer letter as a UD41 Medical Officer (Pegawai Perubatan UD41) from the Public Services Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, better known as SPA) arrived two weeks ago. Of course, the interviews were conducted way back in June- that was half a year ago- as arranged by my university for my entire batch. I doubt any of them failed their interviews; I doubt anyone on that day failed their interview. My interview questions were, for lack of a better word, deep.
No, I will not openly tell you what questions were asked of us (the interview was conducted in groups of 5 for us); you may ask me personally and I *may* divulge what I remembered. Not that it would be helpful for you, most likely, unless you got the exact person I got asking us most of the questions. Also that wouldn't be fun for you, would it?

And now I am waiting with bated breath for the Ministry of Health (MOH, or Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia, KKM) to send me an email containing further instructions for me to register and then apply for my placement in local hospitals through the rather new system aptly called e-housemen.

What I do know that is 99% for sure is that our Program Transformasi Minda (PTM) will be conducted after Chinese New Year, which will fall on 8 February 2016. This means there is a chance that I will be celebrating my birthday in the middle of PTM. Oh sweet delight!

As if I needed another reminder that I am, on average, 2 years older than most of us fresh HOs-to-be.


Accompanying the agony of waiting is an excess of planning and prepping for just about everything that comes to mind. Rental houses searched, despite the fact that my hospital of choice is not guaranteed; reliable movers, ditto; MRCPCH dates and fees; shopping lists, including IKEA bookcases that will definitely be needed along with videos of their set-up. This is no joke! On and on the random searches come and go...

Then, inevitably, came the drawn-out search for information regarding housemanship, despite the many people I've already witnessed, talked to, and read about throughout the past six years. I have a general tendency for blogs as they are more personal than books, newspaper articles and guidelines. I came across many, of course, and with each of them undertones of malice; of malcontent. But mostly with a sprinkling of optimism. Every dark cloud, eh?

Therefore, of course I was drawn to document my own journey as a medical person here.
Preferably on a very, very long-term basis.


My journey as a student has been documented, rather patchily during clinical years, on another private blog account. Momentarily, Google could crawl over it- this I amended within my first year of medical school. It was rather unfair, seeing how I was drawn to my own university after having read several blogs from the existing students whom, incidentally, have by now long taken their blogs down, too.

I guess with the glut of doctors, as we are recently calling it, this blog will be one of thousands that the future generations will read. Many will laugh in delight at our frustrated rants. Oh, how they toiled! How they blathered and whined to no avail!
And to that I say: I hope my blatherings help you, you ingrate.

But it is in my sincerest hopes that I prevail this time around.
My hopes that this will be as informative to you as it is liberating to me.

Being a good House Officer means not having time to do this, you protest.
In fact I thought so too, but in one's life, reflection is always needed to improve.

And thus my (second) intro ends.


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