AS the Health Ministry (MOH) announced a task force to investigate the death of doctor at the Penang Hospital recently, contract doctors’ movement, Hartal Doktor Kontrak, shared a post made by a junior medical officer who attempted suicide due to work-related stress.
In a post shared via Hartal Doktor Kontrak’s Twitter feed, the doctor, who claimed anonymity, shared how the medical officer crashed his car deliberately on a concrete barricade!
“I’m not sure why I did it. But I remember driving so fast and decided to hit a concrete barricade on the road as fast I can. Luckily, I was fine. Continued my psy (psychiatric) treatment until now,” the post reads.
“Life is too short to waste two years of life doing long hours slave work and being treated worse than a slave but holding the title of a ‘Dr’.
“Restarting another journey in another sector seems to be not an option from the family.”
“It’s tough when you can’t take it anymore and there’s no escape part from killing yourself,” the post added.
Twitter user @blushpinkpeonyy replied to the post by saying:
Two days ago, the Penang Health Department said a junior doctor “fell” to death soon after arriving in Penang Hospital on April 4.
“This case is now under investigation by the police who have ordered for a post-mortem to be conducted,” state health director Dr Ma’arof Sudin had reported saying in a statement.
This is the second death involving junior doctors from the same hospital. In December 2020, a junior doctor resigned and died soon after.
Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that his ministry had formed a task force to investigate the matter, adding it would also cover the culture of bullying which housemen and junior doctors have alleged.
At the same time, Penang state executive councillor Norlela Ariffin announced that she would convene a Penang Health Committee meeting soon to investigate problems faced by junior doctors.
“We want to address these issues formally and find real solutions for real change. Not band-aid solutions,” Free Malaysia Today reported her as saying, adding the meeting minutes would be sent to the MOH for action. – May 7, 2022
