:: Mahasiswa biasa

Ke hadapan mahasiswa biasa,

“Menuntut ilmu biar sampai ke negara China”

Saya merupakan salah seorang pelajar tajaan kerajaan yang sedang menjalani tahun akhir perubatan di salah sebuah universiti di UK. Terlebih dahulu, saya ingin melahirkan rasa terkilan saya terhadap tuduhan anda yang menyatakan bahawa jihad kami ke negara asing untuk menimba ilmu adalah pembaziran semata-mata.

Ilmu perubatan itu luas dan keindahannya tidak mungkin dapat dihargai sepenuhnya jika semua doktor yang berkhidmat di negara kita dilahirkan daripada acuan yang sama. Ilmu perubatan itu dinamik dan akan berubah dari masa ke masa. benar, ongkos membiayai pengajian kami adalah tinggi tapi saya merasakan adalah tidak adil sama sekali bagi anda untuk membuat tuduhan am bahawa kami tidak kompetitif dan kurang mesra terhadap pesakit. Malahan, saya berpendapat perbandingan yang dilakukan oleh anda tidak seharusnya berlaku sama sekali. Kita sama-sama pelajar perubatan, kita sama-sama mengerti kesukaran yang dialami dalam menuntut ilmu ini! Mengapa perlu wujud sentimen ‘graduan tempatan’ lagi hebat daripada ‘graduan luar negara?’.

Percayalah bahawa setiap acuan pendidikan itu ada kelebihan dan kekurangannya. Tidak kiralah acuan universiti Malaysia, United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, India mahupun Russia! Cara untuk mengatasi untuk kekurangan itu mudah. kita kerja sama2, kita kongsi maklumat dan bertukar pandangan. Seandainya semua orang berada pada tahap pemikiran yang sama, bagaimana kita nak berkembang sebagai seorang individu dan rakyat secara amnya?

Anda ada menyebut mengenai keadaan kami yang tidak dibenarkan menyentuh patients sama sekali. My dear, get your facts right!

There are definitely limitations as to what we can or cannot do as medical students but i believe that the same applies in Malaysia too. All this because of the rise in litigations. But so far in my training, I have never been told to ’stay away from the patient!’ or ‘don’t touch the patient’ for I have gained informed consent from the patients. i have reassured them that whatever we discuss is confidential and will only be discussed within the medical team. We may be medical students but that does not give us the right to prod the patient mercilessly without their consent. Nor does that give us the right to treat the patients like guinea pigs.

Anda turut menyatakan bahawa kemampuan kami telah diperkotak-katikkan oleh doktor tempatan. My dear, please do not patronize us.

First of all, i dont think all local doctors think likewise. Even so, I would appreciate a wee bit of understanding that when you’re in Rome, do what the Romans do. And of course, once you’re out of Rome, do what you have to. As i’ve mentioned earlier, medicine is a wide discipline and the teaching of it to medical students is greatly influenced by where it is taught, to meet the demand of the local area once these students graduate. The discrepancy of our learning is thus ‘caught out’ when we are placed in an unfamiliar setting. 

It is heartbreaking to hear that we are a waste of our country’s monetary resources. Despite the popular belief that oversea graduates live on a bed of roses, we actually have our own sets of challenges apart from the already difficult path of studying medicine in a foreign country. At times, our faith are challenged and I myself have been subjected to racist/Islamophobic remarks and physical encounters. Yes, we have colleagues who chose to stay overseas for reasons only known to them but truly, there are more of us flying back to coast of Malaysia, eager to serve the people of our country.   

The question of which graduate is better should never rise. In fact, we should work together and thus patch up one another’s weakness - all in the best interest of our patients.

Believe me mahasiswa biasa, regardless of where you study, no medical faculty in the right mind would let loose a newly graduated doctor into the wards if he/she is unable to demonstrate the minimum competence in performing clinical prodecures and phhysical examination.

Sekian.

Minci.

 

~ by Minci on May 6, 2008.