Having a good family doctor is really a blessing. When we lived near the city, our family doctor were the doctors at the Melbourne Uni health centre. They were really good. I mean reallly good. You could go to them with a 'shopping list' of health woes and they'd tend to them patiently. Baik sangat2 and very understanding.
However it wasn't that easy to make an appointment. They would be very booked out. So if we needed a quick prescription for antibiotics or a medical certificate we'd go to this clinic near our house with dodgy doctors who can run a consultation without even looking at you in the face.
And of course, all that was bulk billed at the time (the clinic sends the bill straight to the health insurance company - sorta like panel clinic concept in Msia la) because we were students.
Now is a different story. We have to use private health insurance, pay the consultation fee first and then claim from our health insurance and get 80% back. So sekarang ni agak malasssss...well...sangat malas nak gi jumpa doctor. And we haven't found a good family doctor yet. So far the one we've seen is the in-out-here's your-antibiotics type then charges $60 for 5 minutes worth. Other clinics are mostly booked out and with our work schedule it's not that easy to make an appointment.
Last week Layth ran a high fever so we brought him to the after hours clinic at our hospital. We had to wait for 2 hours though..public hospital biasa ler. Better than going to the Emergency dept..mau tunggu 8-24 hours! Anyway, that after-hours GP was awesome!! She was too cool. Very sympathetic; explained things very well and handled Layth gently. We are going to stalk her and find out which clinic she usually works at during the day. Hehehe.
Hope we find her. Or at least someone like her.
3 comments:
It always perplexes me why the clinical system in Malaysia and Aussie/UK/US are so different. Kat Mesia kita sakit selsema ke demam, go to any clinic (although the one you registered with is easier la), wait 10 minutes, get consultation, another 10 minutes, get antibiotik and vitamin C. Kalau itu klinik panel all free of charge, kalau bukan then the most they'll charge is like RM30.
Kat UK nak jumpa doktor kena buat appointment one bloody week in advance. Agak pointless la kalau kita demam hari tu jugak! Puas tanya orang why this isn't the case, my inference is because ratio patient:doctor terlalu besar and so everyone have to queue up.
memang. i agree it is one of the more frustrating things about health care in developed country. i think the reasons are as follows:
1. people takleh jumpa specialist sesuka hati..they need a referral from a gp. thus lebih ramai orang gi jumpa gp la even for that reason.
2. not any tom dick and harry can open a clinic. kat msia, lepas habis houseman bleh bukak clinic. kat negara cam kita duduk ni, GP is a specialty, regulated by the goverment so bleh jaga standards. so sebenarnya takde la bnyk sgt clinics around comparatively.
3. these countries put emphasis on preventative medicine and also high number of elderly people coz longer life span. so people with chronic disease ni selalu jumpa GP thus clogging up the system. kat msia ppl dont usually go and see the doctor kalau high cholesterol etc. only those who care about their health aje selalu pergi gp checkup. but other times only orang yg selsema batuk aje gi jumpa doctor.
4. lots of things specialists amik alih kat msia. for example kat sini kalau nak pakai progesterone implant gp je bleh buat. kat msia kene jumpa Ob/Gyn. plus people sometimes straight away gi jumpa specialist aje kat msia. my late datuk had COPD, he'd see the respiratory specialist every month kat private hospital. kalau kat australia, GP aje manage COPD. tak perlu specialist.
5. plus pharmaceuticals are regulated in these countries. doctors cannot sukati dispense medicine in the clinic. so kalau nak access medication kene gi doctor to get a prescription and then kene gi chemist. msia's pharmacist are lobbying for this kind of system.
that's my thought on this matter
Ah. Good doctors = low in supply. But high in demand. Creating shortages... booked out all the time.
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