The DG says that Malaysia is losing the war on Dengue and blames private doctors
“We declared war against dengue in February. It looks like we are losing the war.” Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican, the director-general of health, painted this grim picture when he revealed that 57 people had died of dengue between January and June 6.
He warned that more would die from the disease. Dr Ismail did not mince words. He blamed doctors in private clinics and hospitals for the high death toll.
He said the majority of those who died could have been saved if the private doctors had known what to do.
Dr Ismail said 35 of those who died had sought treatment at private clinics or hospitals early, but the doctors there did not carry out proper tests or follow-up, leading to their death.
“In fact, 30 per cent of those who died came (to government hospitals) when they were already very ill,” he said.
Fed up with this attitude, Dr Ismail warned that action would be taken private doctors, clinics and hospitals if they did not report any suspect dengue cases.
“Lack of follow-up” may actually be due to the local habit of “doctor hopping” where patients expect quick fixes and you will be surprised at the number of patients who fear going to hospitals and delay admission until they are very sick despite advice from their GPs.
I think there is no point simply blaming doctors either public or private in a sweeping fashion. I could tell the DG the sad tale of my neighbour’s daughter who went to a local public hospital for suspected dengue and was repeated followed up but not admitted until she was in a moribund state and unfortunately died. Yes my dear DG, there are problems with the public sector as well, perhaps lapses in judgement by inexperienced junior doctors, or pressure of beds etc., so let’s not blame each other in a sweeping fashion. If there are issues with individual cases, then deal with them on an individual basis.
Things are already ridiculously cumbersome like a HUGE stack of reports to fill for every dengue related death.
If you want to take things further like the previous Health Minister who blamed a private doctor for not “being the right doctor” in treating a patient with dengue then I think all of us (even if we’ve had years of general medicine experience) can give up and send every ill patient with dengue to Sungai Buloh hospital.
The problem is a total failure of the nation’s public health system in dealing with the problem - where the MOH, local councils and the public at large have not succeeded at what matters most - prevention and getting rid of the breeding grounds for Aedes. Let’s not lose focus.
from the Malaysian Medical Resources
Losing the war on dengue - the blame game
I’m sure this will piss off a lot of Chinese. I can only imagine the reaction of online gamers who find access to their MMORPG cut at their local net cafe. But I’m pretty sure some savvy users will find ways around the block. Some enterprising programmer must be working on software to fool the government’s watchdog.
