I am in OPD @ Out-Patient Pharmacy for almost 4 weeks! Today is the starting of my dispensing week - 'dispensing' in Malaysia means giving out the medicine(s) to the recipient, packed with the essential advice - perhaps this is a bit different from the definition regularly used in UK...
Anyway, lets say that I have survived today - and the process is actually - quite similar to the setting of community pharmacy in UK - and actually - its is similarly fun!!!
Today I met a young lady of 15 years old - with Thalassaemia (corrent spelling???). There is no issue with mental capacity considered when I was dispensing her prescription. Her face was quite 'pucat' (Malay term for pale, white face), yet still smiling when talking to me. She's also taking her brother's prescription too. Thinking back, I wonder how much hardship that she has to endure, since young, perhaps? It's not her fault. No one wished to be born with any sort of illness, if possible, I believe...
More story to be told in OPD really. However I am grateful as the patients here, most are very considerate and patient, and has no problem to wait for sometime. Perhaps this is a bit different compared to other states. Sometimes I appreciate this as this makes my work environment has one less point to be stressful about. There are some very inconsiderate patients - yet this is very minimal - and I tried to tell myself, do not compromise your patient care to lots more others due to the bad mood caused by these relatively very few inconsiderate patients.
***
Anyway, lets say that I have survived today - and the process is actually - quite similar to the setting of community pharmacy in UK - and actually - its is similarly fun!!!
Today I met a young lady of 15 years old - with Thalassaemia (corrent spelling???). There is no issue with mental capacity considered when I was dispensing her prescription. Her face was quite 'pucat' (Malay term for pale, white face), yet still smiling when talking to me. She's also taking her brother's prescription too. Thinking back, I wonder how much hardship that she has to endure, since young, perhaps? It's not her fault. No one wished to be born with any sort of illness, if possible, I believe...
More story to be told in OPD really. However I am grateful as the patients here, most are very considerate and patient, and has no problem to wait for sometime. Perhaps this is a bit different compared to other states. Sometimes I appreciate this as this makes my work environment has one less point to be stressful about. There are some very inconsiderate patients - yet this is very minimal - and I tried to tell myself, do not compromise your patient care to lots more others due to the bad mood caused by these relatively very few inconsiderate patients.
***
Today I met a beggar boy on the street too. He tried to get some money from me. Yet I chose to walk away.
Thinking back, I am not sure if I was wrong. I mean, he may be really in need of money. He may be really hungry...He may not. Some may say, it's his parents' fault then. I think sometimes, it's really out of our control to be born in which family. If possible, of course everyone wants to be the prince, or son of a millionaire - yet how many is/are so lucky, at the end?
Talking about the beggar in Sabah. While some are local, some are actually descendant(s) from Indonesia or The Philippines. I am not trying to be internationally discriminative here. My point is, sometimes it's due to poverty that the child(ren) of these foreigners (which sometimes, may be illegal) have to try to look after themselves, and this happen due to the under-education or the difficulties faced by the foreigners themselves. So at the end, when these young children start to beg at the street, I am sure they must be ashamed sometimes. I wonder, how do these children perceived other people's look on them? Will they feel looked down? Not respected? Or feel like their presence are not welcomed? Are petty? Or...Will this cause them to be under-confident? Is this the reason why they feel crime is the only way to solve their problem(s)?
And at the same time, while I am respecting and feeling that it is natural for each country to take care of their own citizens first. I sighed for the fate of these poor children. I mean, they are innocent. They do not wish to become poor, and have to beg/be bad, and finally become a burden to the society, directly or indirectly. How about the fate of those children where one of their parents may be local while the other is not? At the end, perhaps no one can answer me. I may be creating one of the most difficult question, yet only for myself, I suppose...
