At the cost of a life?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/europe/09bribery.html?hp

I know that gift-giving etiquette has been an old tradition in countries like Romania, and when i read the article published in the NYtimes, i was utterly shocked to say the least. That article has revealed that gift-giving is in fact almost compulsory in the healthcare system of Romania. In a more straighforward way, doctors, nurses and the orderlies expect themsevles to be 'bribed' in exchange of their care and attention.

Bribery has become a norm in the Romanian healthcare sector, and they blamed it on the meager salary of about $510 for doctors. Well, that is undeniably low, but corruption at the cost of one's life is not a solution at all. The code of ethics is no longer making sense anymore with such thing happening. They work not for the passion of the work, rather, for the 'supplementary incomes' they are expecting to receive from their patients. Such healthcare professionals should not be deemed professional afterall.

For a moment, it hit me thinking. man, how lucky we malaysians are to receive equitable healthcare service from the government hospitals. There is no rule that says the poor are denied of medical care, (nor is there any that prevents the rich from enjoying the public healthcare services).

The Show by Lenka

was listening to this song while driving this morning and certain parts of the lyrics just caught my attention. a nice song indeed.

The Show

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
I can't do it alone (I've tried)
and I don't know why

Slow it down make it stop
or else my heart is going to pop
'cuz it's too much
Yeah, it's a lot
to be something I'm not

I'm a fool out of love
'cuz I just can't get enough

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
I can't do it alone (I've tried)
and I don't know why

I am just a little girl
lost in the moment
I'm so scared
but don't show it
I can't figure it out
it's bringing me down
I know
I've got to let it go
and just enjoy the show

The sun is hot in the sky
just like a giant spotlight
The people follow the sign
and synchronize in time
It's a joke
Nobody knows
they've got a ticket to that show

oh oh
Just enjoy the show
oh oh

I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I dont know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

I am just a little girl
lost in the moment
I'm so scared
but I don't show it
I can't figure it out
it's bringing me down
I know
I've got to let it go
and just enjoy the show

a TDM house-pharmacist

I'm in therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) department now. will have to learn to handle real cases, patients who are on certain drugs such as vancomycin, gentamicin, phenytoin, just to name a few. Even paracetamol poisoning cases will come to us. will have to run blood samples for drug levels --> interpret results --> suggest to docs any alteration in drug regimen --> and follow-up the case. it's nice to get hands-on experience, and applying what has been learnt in uni. i always love drug pharmacokinetics.. perhaps was inspired by one of our Scottish lecturers back then. someone whom i really looked up to. :)

I suddenly remembered two cases which i have been faithfully following up for almost two weeks. Even after I left clinical department, i consistently went back to the same ward just to find out what's happening to these two patients... They both passed away just a couple of days ago. One of them was expected to have a bad prognosis (fulminant poisoning of the infamous herbicide paraquat). but the other patient left quite unexpectedly, he just collapsed anddied.

Have been up to much else than work, a good way to keep my evenings fully occupied. just a recap of the last one week.
Sunday: Family dinner in Ipoh; Birthday bash at colleague's
Monday: Seafood dinner in Matang
Tuesday: Pfizer's Viagra 10th Anniversary Dinner in Syuen Hotel
Wednesday: Dinner home
Thursday: Badminton and dinner at Noodle station and night chat with the happy tHree friends.
Friday: Dinner home
and now, just got back from another family dinner out.

for the coming week, I shall stay home more often during dinner time.

it was a fine weekend afterall.

It's nice to do things out of spontaneity. I thought this weekend was going to painfully slow for me, but it turned out to be otherwise.

we've decided to drive all the way down to Ipoh for just a simple meal. It was an excellent eating-out session with family and relatives. i always love that. i still remember how granpa used to bring us out for family dinners over certain weekends. we as kids would be so excited that we would dress more properly than usual, happily wearing a smile from ear to ear on the face and jumping with innocent blissful joy. i really miss those times...

after ipoh, we dropped by sungai siput on the way back for visiting, and then shortly after dinner, we drove back to taiping. decided to use the old trunk road, and i really thought it was a breathtaking drive. it was drizzling at first, then the rain started falling in a crescendo, creating a certain rhythm on the roof of our car..

i'm home now and the rain has just stopped a wee while ago. it's half past seven and the sky has just changed its colour, telling the whole world that dusk is here. the town looks and feels clean now, filled with good fresh air. birds are out again, chirping gleefully. it's amazing how a course of rain washes away the old and brings in the new.

some pictures of family and relatives would be nice to keep, for memory sake in times to come... i notice that i don't appear to have wide smiles in pictures lately, are the braces masking it off, or i just don't do it so often anymore.



and i have promised, i'll pick up, though i may be slow.

the ball of the life

i believe things happen for a reason. :) i'm glad i came to realise this after much struggle.

the ball of the life has to roll on.

the spinning fan.

silent road, starless sky, chilly wind. i guess it's only the spinning fan which is talking to me now... :)

Post-call

post-call now. claimed time off for these two days so that i have a long weekend off. i wanted to spend some quality time at home and prepare some kuih kapik and arrowhead crisps for CNY. i was looking forward to this weekend for the past one month, but now that it's here, i felt that my festive mood has been masked, which i couldnt understand why.

i realised that i was suddenly craving for oranges and more oranges. i needed my orange therapy. my meals are also messed up coz i'm so bloated with oranges. i'm starting to talk weird things to ppl around me. i'm starting to have funny thoughts in my mind.

i have little grasp of what's exactly happening. it's sudden, hopefully temporary. CNY's approaching.