Hari Raya Akbar

Selamat Hari Raya Eidul Adha. TaqabbalAllahu minna wa minkum!

Kullu 'amm wa antum bikhair!

Akhirnya sudah lebih sebulan aku di Seremban. I'm still struggling to adapt with new environment, new city, new lifestyle and new working culture under KKM hospital.

Penat. Sangat, sangat penat. Rasa nak ketawa sahaja bila membaca laporan ni;

At Least 5 doctors suffered from mental woes every month.

KUALA LUMPUR: Every month, at least five doctors are found to be suffering from mental illnesses, director-general of health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said.

He said these doctors were either psychotic or neurotic but still managed to get into medical schools because these schools were not screening students meticulously enough.

“When the doctors complete their two-year housemanship and their applications are submitted for registration with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), they fail to get registered.

“Their supervisors do not certify them as fit to be registered because of indiscipline and poor attitude arising from mental health problems.

“The mental cases range from psychotic to neurotic. Psychotic cases include delusions and hallucinations, and neurotic behaviour includes anxiety, fear and anger due to the competitive environment,” said Dr Ismail.

These medical graduates, totalling about 60 cases a year, are unable to cope with their housemanship as they may have been pressured by their parents to take up medicine.

Dr Ismail said it was disheartening to note this emerging trend due to an inefficient selection process, adding that the mental cases were referred to the Medical Review Panel (MRP).

Since many of these graduates have spent a lot of money on their medical education, the MRP may extend their housemanship and at the same time send them for psychiatric treatment.

“In the event they are assigned to work, they will be thoroughly supervised and counselled by experts and given light duties until their mental condition improves.

“I am not so sure whether we can identify those with attitude problems during an interview unless such problems are obvious,” Dr Ismail said at a forum on Training Future Doctors: Have we got it right?”

About 2,000 medical doctors are registered annually from 21 local medical schools and 400 recognised schools overseas.

Different medical schools around the world have different selection criteria for their students, Dr Ismail said.

However, he said that the ministry was also planning some form of examination to check their attitude, knowledge and experience after they complete their final examination.

Most of the mentally ill students, he said, could have undergone pressure and depression while studying and faced difficulty in coping in a hospital environment.

The other weakness was a lack of proficiency in the English language.

Higher Education director-general Prof Datuk Dr Radin Umar Radin Sohadi said the ministry was currently reviewing universities’ curricula to ensure high standards in medical education and training for doctors.

“Uppermost on our minds will be the safety and well-being of patients,” he said.

Masalah di Malaysia berkaitan dengan layanan terhadap housemen sudah jadi isu yang lapuk.Di Malaysia, masalah utama ialah 'sunnah' yang diperturunkan sejak dahulu. If you are the boss, you give orders. Your subordinates will just follow without questions. You never look at them as your colleagues or even friends. I am not surprised when the DG, Dr Ismail Merican came to Ireland last time and he said, " We treated you (the HOs') as the worst form of human being, so that you can learn.". Yeah, right...... But the problem is the bosses who love to scold or publicly scream at the housemen are not good teachers. Most of good consultants that love to teach will never, or rarely shout at you especially in the ward.

This species of morons still exist in government hospitals. No wonder we end up having PSY disorders among doctors.

But lucky for me, I got my new 'sanctuary' in Seremban. To ease my pressure , i decided to join 'Yoga' class.Well, not really an ordinary 'Yoga'. Last month, I went out looking for Masjid Negeri in Seremban for Maghrib prayer. When I was there, I noticed that so many people flocking the lecture of none other than Shaykh Fuad Kamaluddin al-Maliki. Alhamdulillah, the weekly gathering is truly a blessing for the people around Seremban. Every Monday night, Shaykh Fuad will teach from Shamail Imam Tirmidzi and Hikam Ibn 'Ato illah al-Sakandari. The discourse on Hikam is based on his own commentary, Anwar Sabil al-Aqwam fi Sharh Hikam. So far, I tried my best to attend the lectures when I am not on call. Tried to pull few other friends among housemen to attend the lectures.

Apart from weekly lecture in Masjid Seremban, Shaykh Fuad also teaches in Masjid Jami Rembau on Hikam Abu Madyan. Unfortunately, I still havent been to Rembau, yet. Insya Allah, I'll pay a visit to his madrasah and attend his gatherings.

I noticed that the topics discussed during the lecture in Masjid Negeri is not meant for the awam. Meaning, only those who are used with the technical terms in tasawwuf can fully comprehend and grab the deep meaning from his lectures (the terms like fana, baqa, maqam, ahwal, zawq). Bak kata Shaykh Fuad;

" Kalau ceramah kat Kuala Lumpur ni, pening kepala orang KL"

However, I found delights in his words eventhough I couldn't understand some of his jokes (bahasa Minang). Shaykh Fuad always mentioned the words of Sidi Abu Abbas al-Mursi when the aphorisms of Ibn Ato illah were brought to and presented to him; that these words contain the gist and secrets of Ihya Ulumuddin and even much more than that. Shaykh Fuad emphasized the study and contemplation of the Sufi's aphorisms like Ibn 'Ato illah's, Abu Madyan's and Ibn Raslan's. To him, these beautiful words are not merely words but should be use as 'wird'. I found out that in his book, he qouted extensively from the commentaries of previous Sufi masters like Ibn 'Abbad al-Randi, Ibn 'Ajibah al-Hasani, Sidi Ahmad Zarruq and Shaykh Abdul Majid Shurnubi. However, most of the explanations are based on Ibn 'Ajibah's Iqaz al-Himam. Shaykh Fuad was greatly influenced by his teacher, the late Shaykh Mahmud 'Adawi who taught him the text when he was still a student in al-Azhar.

Negeri Sembilan is still the stronghold of tariqa Ahmadiah. Public discourse, lectures are very much alive in certain mosques here. I heard that the SS Mufti of NS also delivering lectures on fiqh in Masjid Rasah, not far from the hospital. Unfortunately, I've never been to his lectures which are held on Sundays (asyik balik KL).

So far, life in Seremban is not too bad. Even if the work here is bad,there is no point complaining. Just a bit of 'sabr' and 'syukr', He will make life easier for you.