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"Sorry Doc, We Can't Understand You"
By Nani Rahayu Mohd Yusof, Malaysian National News Agency
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
May 17, 2004
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Foreign
doctors who serve at public hospitals in the country have problems communicating with their patients, admits Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek.
"They have problems communicating with their patients. But how do we provide them with language courses as these take time and are costly. If we hire somebody and have to provide the person with a six-month course, then our government will incur losses," he told Bernama in an interview.
Dr Chua said some of the foreign doctors can speak Bahasa Melayu and almost all can converse in English fluently.
He said it was up to the doctors to take their own initiative to learn the local lingo.
"That is the reason why we cannot hire many foreign doctors and as of last March 31, there are only 643 foreign doctors serving at public hospitals in the country," he said.
He said 203 of them were specialists.
A total of 263 of the foreign doctors are from India, Pakistan (160) and Egypt (75). The rest are from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Canada, Singapore, Nepal, Japan and Australia.
Dr Chua said the Health Ministry was aware of this problem but anticipated that it would only occur within the initial months of the doctors' stint in Malaysia.
Hence, the ministry was in the opinion that these doctors did not need special Bahasa Melayu classes as they could pick up the language from the patients and other medical staff during their course of work, he said.
After all, there were nurses when the doctors attended to the patients, said Dr Chua.
A check at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) confirmed the problem's existence and this has impeded the quality of treatment to a certain extent.
As it turned out, the foreign doctors were totally dependent on the nurses to brief the patients on their medical situation.
The nurse also appeared to be the person who decided on other matters, including the issuance of medical certificates to the patients.
A "difficult" situation arose when an Egyptian doctor at HKL's outpatient clinic attended to an elderly Chinese lady. Both doctor and woman did not know much of Bahasa Melayu and the former had to rely on the nurse on duty for information on the patient's condition.
A flu-stricken National Service trainee later walked into the treatment room, and found the situation equally hapless.
There was no interaction between doctor and patient and the nurse, who has only two years of her service remaining, became the "stand-in" physician and decided on the duration of the trainee's sick leave.
Dr Chua, when asked on the ministry's policy when hiring foreign doctors, said a special committee would study the doctors' academic qualifications and experience before making the final decision.
He said applications from foreign doctors would be screened and submitted to the Public Service Commission (SPA) and Public Service Department (JPA) before they were called for interviews.
"The ministry will decide where they will be based after getting the result of the interviews and the successful applicants will have to register with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).
"They also need to obtain work permits from the immigration authorities," said Dr Chua.
He said the doctors should have academic qualifications from institutions recognized by the MMC and aged between 27 and 50.
Those with qualifications from other institutions would also be considered, he said.
For foreign specialists, they must at least served two years in that capacity at government hospitals in their respective countries.
"Or five years for those with degrees from institutions not recognized by the MMC," he said.
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