.:My FutuRe ..My dad's Past:.

rite now our starting pay as housemen have also increased..its now rm4500 inclusive of on calls

the star and NST yesterday announced that doctor's pay after housemanship of two years will be rm6000 inclusive of allowance
can u imagine how my jaw dropped..not just mind.in fact everbody.. the parents..the other students.. the current housemen..the current medical officers

first reason being that the current medical officers who have worked about 10 years in the government service are getting a pay of this much. and they cannot accept the fact that easily all this young pass outs are going to get this amount from the moment they become medical officers. One MO came to see my dad and complained that it is unfair that they are all getting so much without even climbing up the seniority ladder and all this juniors will be getting the same pay as those who have served for 10 years

the parents..are really happy bcz now they realise..its worth now being a doctor..despite the amount of money they had to spend to get their children thru medical school..despite all the exam stress that they also hav to deal with.. despite the non stop working hours that they hardly ever see their children..despite their regret to make their children suffer..mugging for 5 years..jus tobe underpaid and work like a dog..finally..IT IS WORTH being a docto


as for me..im jus too happy to be receiving this kind of pay!!i finally can start investing my money!!


Walking down memory lane...


when my dad first started becoming a houseman..the pay was less than rm1000.it was difficult enough to live.eventhough without kids.Hearing his stories about how he and my mom survived the hardship was unbelievable. imagine having to pay monthly to buy a fridge..
how they played 'kutu'
This 'main kutu' means they collect a pool of money among themselves, the doctors each month..all must contribute the same amount lets say rm50..so if there are 4 people main 'kutu' in the end of the month they will take turns to get rm200 a month. then when my dad wanted to go to sit for his MRCP again there was no money available. that time there was no masters program in the country. he had to put it on paper that he was selling his car to my aunt so that my aunt will receive a bank loan to 'buy' it. this money was used for air ticket..to support my dad's expenses in the UK for a month.. and also for exam fees. And at that time very few scholarships were available.JPA only sent malay students so they did their masters in the UK for a year or two.


AS for the non malays, it is all their own money.And because they went there purely for the exams, they did not have the privilege of having classes there. They hang aroud in the hospital just to familiarise with the cases (Western countries cases are different from tropical you see certain things are mroe common there and become more important in exams). Then they hang around in the university campus and try to see if there are many arabs around.WHY?
Because they are the ones with enough money to PAY an examiner to Teach them JUST FOR THE EXAMS.MY dad and his friends try to listen from outside the lecture hall or join in secretly.

Hardship was this back in the 70s for doctors even when they are medical officers

And unlike these days MRCP was very tough because there was no mock exams.no mcq books nothing..so many doctors do not pas for the first time.My dad thought he would fail too so he decided to head back to Malaysia without knowing his results.He thought he would just try again harder next year..means more Money! but to his surprise on his way back he was informed that he passed and is now a specialist.

With that title in hand..slowly promotions came in but definitely not as many as this. Thats why a lt of the doctors at that time decided it doesnt pay to be faithful to the government service. Most of my dad's friends resigned and opened up their own privae practice. Only those 'foolish' ones stayed on. Inspite of that..not all reached their full maximum promotion before retirement. My dad was one of the few lucky ones who reached the Super Scale A

Macam orang Melayu selalu cakap..ade hikmah di sebaliknye..Maybe this is it.He is a senior and quite prominent doctor now...Prominent bcz he is one of those old dogs who still want to work under the government even after retirement. Hehe..