Assalamua’laikum
To me what had happened to Dr Nor Afifah is a Taqdir from Allah SWT and it could happen to anybody. We as Muslims must accept this with an open heart.
Medical profession is a noble profession dealing directly with human life. A duty in a simple word to make a person healthy from any ailment. It is a long study year and devotion to become a medical doctor compared to other professions. A further training of a minimum four to seven years is needed to become a specialist and a specialist with specialisation, respectively.
Oncall duty is one of the compulsory commitments as a medical doctor in Malaysia. This duty becomes the focus point and alleged cause surrounding the demise of Dr Nor Afifah, a medical officer in Anaesthetic Department at Hospital Sungai Buloh, recently, who passed away following a road traffic accident. It happened after her oncall duty. Dato Dr Norhisham, Director of Health has announced that the demise was not related to lack of rest after the oncall duty. I urge everyone to accept his explanation and shouldn’t make any more guessing game.
Oncall is a compulsory commitment as medical doctor albeit you are a houseman, medical offer, specialist or consultant. The duration of hours varies and can be up to 24 hours for medical officer, specialist and consultant. On average, a medical doctor needs to do 7 to 8 oncalls in a month and it’s a paid duty. With the increasing number medical doctors in KKM, most of them get a day off after the oncall day. A lot of changes and improvement have been made with regards to the oncall duty involving doctors.
At the same time, I-Medik encourages all relevant parties for any form of initiative to further improve the current on-call system, which later will benefit all doctors, and the quality of services. This is inline with assurance given by KKM.
Let us put this issue to rest. Everyone needs to understand this noble profession. A profession which needs dedication and commitment in dealing with human life, the second hierarchy in maqasid syarak.
Prof. Dr Azmi Md Nor
President of I-Medik
