Another reminder to soon to be HO

Lately, the nation is shocked with the death of a Houseman in Hospital Kajang. Some said it was a suicidal attempt but other said he might be overdosed with the stimulants since he was on 5 consecutive calls.

I cannot comment much on this matter simpy cause we need two sides of the story before pointing our fingers to whom might be responsible. What i can only mention here is to share my experiences as a half a year HO.

I was one of the lucky lots who managed to Go through the 2 systems. My first posting was O&G which is usually an active call. I usually ended up sleeping about 30mins per night. on very bad days, i could not sleep at all! It was very tiring and exhausting. Imagine this. Today i will be oncall which means i start from 7am and only to go back TOMORROW at 5pm. Then, i continue to work the day after. Then i'll do on call the day after that. I really feel like i did not have a life. I would be doing 8-9 oncalls per month!

Then, with the introduction of the shift systems, i do feel a bit of relief. My average calls drop to 5-6 per month. We are allowed to go back by noon considering that our job is done. Of course, we lose a few hundred ringgits allowances but the rest worth em all.

for now, i do not complain much on the workload. I dont whine with my oncalls. In fact, i am grateful with the shift. The number of new housemen coming in is also rising. Hence, more manpower is around to distribute the job.

I am not sure how hell life in the hospitals can be but i guess to those who are still looking for hospitals to choose, please do come to the East Malaysia. I do not recommend however going to the big hospitals such as Sarawak General Hospitals and Queen Elizabeth. My hypothesis is that The less HOs there are in the hospital, the less likelihood that the seniors will trash you simply because they appreciate the manpower and they know you work hard.

So, be adventurous and please be mentally and physically prepared before you embark on the housemanship. It's tough and challenging. You've been warned.

Anyway, before i go, the picture above is a view of KK from the plane during my KK visit last weekend! Well, when you work hard, travelling is the way to go!