BN Stupidity Showing!!!!!!

I could not believe my eyes when I read the headlines  in"the Star of December 12.

"Doc's on hold."

I just can't believe that our Government is so stupid as to impose a, "moratorium of medical programmes as an immediate measure to prevent the glut of housemen from becoming worse" as reported in the Star of 12 December.

"A moratorium of medical programmes" and one wonders what this moratorium of medical programmes covers besides the introduction of more places of study to encourage Malaysians from studying medicine.

In the first place every student going abroad to study medicine is registered with the  Ministry of Education, and this means the government is always updated on the statistics of the number of students going abroad to study in medical schools, and when these students would be available in Malaysia.

With this data available year in year out how come we are faced with this "problem?"

If this data is only for the education ministries purposes, then what is it for, to monitor the number of doctors by race? As is the priority of this government for almost anything.

This glut is not a problem but rather a blessing where the ratio of doctors to population stands at approximately 1400, and this is worse then Cuba of course which is amongst the highest  in the world, with a  ratio of 170 persons to 1 doctor, South Korea with a ratio of one doctor to 300 people, Mongolia with a ratio of 380 people to 1 doctor, Turkmenistan 240, Ukraine 240, Lithuania 250, China with the world's largest population at 950, North Korea 650, and here we with about 1400 people to a doctor looking at what we call a 'Glut of housemen" as a problem.

In all developed countries the ratio is one in 450 at the very least, and here we are about three hundred percent below the mark, with about 9 years to go to catch up  just to "save face" as 2020 is fast a approaching and now the government goes to put the brakes and calls for a "moratorium?"

This so called "glut" is the result of cronyism, nepotism, and corruption, nothing more, nothing less, take a look at the building of the Shah Alam Hospital, the deal with our submarines, the Port Klang Fiasco, the billions down the drain could have been used for better purposes and what better purposes, then hospitals and other essential institutions  adequately manned.

How many "deserving doctors" have we sent overseas to train as specialist? I am not saying we have not sent enough, I do not think we are in the position to send too many either with our doctor to patient ratio being so high, 1:1400, there just aren't enough doctors locally for us to send to many overseas. The money spent to send a man to space could have been better utilized here.

Our high and mighty are not aware of this problem, when they land in government hospitals, the doctors are put at their beck and call, and other patients do not matter, they come first, and even then there are others who feel it is better to be treated in Singapore, they do not have the trust of our own medical institutions.

Put on your thinking caps, there  are countries with good doctors, specialists I mean who will be ever willing to come over and help, bring them here on special contracts, to tide over the present "problem"  or rather blessing, sot that our housemen can have easy access to good medical training on the job.

How about cutting our defense budget by a few billion to send our housemen abroad to do their horsemanship, there are countries that may have them, this will help us tide over the problem rather then go for this outlandish though of a  "moratorium," when the country is in dire need for doctors.

This situation is a failure on the part of this government, the problem has manifested itself elsewhere too, you have huge housing projects then you do not have enough water to supply those areas with because the various bodies in the government do not share information. There is the case of Tenaga, and a Water works digging roads after they are newly built becuase of lack of coordination, now it is here. it is compulsory for stdents going abroad to register themselves with the Ministry of Eduction,a nd the Ministry of health and the government as a whole being caught with its pants down, it's a shame, it's disgustful when we have so many young men and women who have responded to one of the greatest needs of the nation now being looked upon as a problem.

It is acts like this that make them shy away from the profession, go to the hospitals, see the hours they spend there as houseman, some do a complete 24 hour shift, I have been to the hospital, I stayed there looking after my brother and I have seen it so do not tell me this is not true and now these young people have become a problem.

The problem is the ministry, go take a look at the trainee nurses that come there for training from institutions the ministry has sanctioned, and see their quality, they are a problem, they are no help to the resident staff nurses, in fact they are a bigger problem there. the Minsitry of health has failed, Malaysians die needlessly due to lack of adequate health care, patients are falling like flies because there are'nt enough doctors, go to the hospitals and see the situation, doctors are overworked, nurses are overworked, and yet we are being told there is a glut, and the government is imposing a five year mortorium, what nonsense.

This so called moratorium will turn the clock back, it will result in less doctors in a nation that has records a very high  population growth in the world and it will only worsen the doctor to population ratio in this country.

This is the Barisan National's way of running our country.