THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is upset that I was not fair to them for saying that they were downplaying incidents of bullying in public hospitals.
Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said that the MMA have been long concerned with bullying in government hospitals even to the extent of setting up an online facility to address it.
He further commented that I should not make an assessment of MMA on the matter of bullying by referencing my comments to what appeared in the media.
I am glad that Dr Koh sought to clear up the matter of MMA’s stand on the bullying phenomenon that is quite pervasive in government hospitals.
It goes without saying that Dr Koh has changed his tune after he was criticised for taking the matter of bullying lightly.
Dr Koh’s earlier remark that bullying was confined to few cases could not have emanated from my misreading of his press statement.
He said it and there are no two ways about it.
The moment news broke out about the death of the houseman from Penang Hospital MMA went on defensive mode to protect the senior doctors and the authorities.
I don’t understand the necessity of doing so as the bullying phenomenon was something that needs to be addressed honestly without fear or favour.
I can understand that MMA wants to be in the Health Ministry’s good books but not to the extent of “burying the pumpkin under a heap of cooked rice” as the Tamil proverb goes.
What surprised me was the fact that Dr Koh had wanted a definition of what constitutes bullying before taking a deeper look into the prevalence of the phenomenon.
In my opinion, such a move is basically an attempt to obfuscate the phenomenon.
There is so much debate and discussions about bullying that came as result of the death of the young houseman recently without the problem of definition.
The meaning of the term bullying is commonly accepted without even a definition.
What is MMA’s problem here – are they in the process of writing a research paper?
By saying that there are only few instances of bullying and that the term needs proper definition, it is clear what MMA’s stand is when it comes to bullying.
They would like to sweep the problem under the rug, a service they think might be appreciated by those in power.
MMA should not be just taking a phenomenological approach or being superficial on the matter.
Perhaps if they are really concerned, they can find out the cultural underpinnings of bullying and why is the severity of bullying is much higher in institutions that are hierarchical.
In hospitals, housemen are not just subjected to the hierarchical power relationship between senior doctors and housemen; rather, their future medical careers depend on them.
It is total vulnerability that is the prime cause of their helplessness and degradation.
It has been found that some aircrafts crashed in the recent past not because of the engine, weather or the incompetence of pilots but because there was no straightforward and honest communication between the captains and junior pilots in the cockpit.
In such cases, cultural hierarchy had prevented the first officers from conveying the impending danger to their captains while the captain in turn had never bothered to listen to their junior co-pilots.
Government hospitals are like cockpits of cultural hierarchy.
Bullying takes place because of this hierarchy where there is no sensible or rational communication between the juniors and seniors – it is just a one-way traffic.
In fact, there are no mechanisms that would allow the housemen to communicate to their authorities about their anxieties and fears.
Bullying has been brought under control in public hospitals in the UK because of the existence of mechanisms and procedures that are available for housemen to register their complaints that will be seriously investigated.
It is this fear, the absence of rigid hierarchy and the need for accountability that had prevented excessive bullying in public hospitals in the UK. – May 12, 2022
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
