Sunday, October 24, 2010

See the condition of working Doctors in Maldives in their Media.

Excerpts from

http://minivannews.com/society/bml-to-block-foreign-account-holders-from-using-debit-cards-overseas-12465

Ah! some of you stupid maldivians.
First of all you fishermen dont have the brains to do the right thing. Thankfully “Golaboh” Gayoom had the brains to bring in foreign doctors and teachers to train maldivians and improve their intelligence.
Secondly, Bangladeshi workers were brought in becasue maldvians dont work hard themselves.
The maldivians are only interested in drugs, hakuru, sex, marriage, divorce, pornography, anal sex and abominations AND TO TOP IT ALL FINALLY SAY THAT THEY ARE MUSLIM DHO!
Why do our people not realize that we need foreigners to work for us? They are the ones who are helping us improve. We must appreciate them by paying them well and treating them with dignity.
I studied in Male’ and had many foreign teachers who trained me. they were very concerned about all of us. But we people! when we grow up we dont even regard and respect them. Shame on you people. When I went lanka for studies, i realized how people look down upon me only because i was a maldivian. I then realized how wrong we were in what we did. i changed…
Why does BML bring out stupid policies. Let us suffer for these incongruities. Don’t torture the foreigners. How do you expect them to be happy and serve us if we keep troubling them? Why have different standards for Maldivians and foreigners?
Just imagine – doctors and teachers are getting robbed – but government does not pay their expenses for treatment. But when a maldivian hakuru thief gets injured he gets free treatment and even gets free foreign treatment.
I am working in IGMH and let me tell you, when a thief had a head injury he was sent to Lanka – ALL EXPENSES PAID BY THE POLICE – only because he was arrested after he fell down while robbing and hurt his head.
What outrageous things are these?
That shows that we are appreciating and encouraging the maldivian hakuru culture and torturing the foreigners who come to serve us.
Shame to Anni – the ganja boh and all hakuru maldivians.
praise to Gayoom – sorry i did not vote for you. My one vote would have made you stronger. I was stupid to vote for ganja bo thinking that we would have a better life. Sorry Gayoom be.
Shame on ganja bo, flat be, faddah bo Anni.

Monday, October 18, 2010

See What These Maldivians are doing to Doctors in return to our Services.

http://minivannews.com/news-in-brief/indian-pediatrician-attacked-by-masked-en-10316

Indian pediatrician attacked by masked intruders

Indian pediatrician attacked by masked intruders thumbnail An Indian pediatrician working at Kudahuvadhoo Hospital in Dhaal Atoll was stabbed in his home by a group of masked men, according to a report in Haveeru.
According to Hospital Manager Ahmed Nashid, the attack occurred on Saturday night 10 minutes after the doctor arrived home from the hospital, when the group forced in his door. The doctor was stabbed in the arm and leg when he was unable to give the men any money.
“The doctor said his money was deposited in the bank,” Nashid told Haveeru.
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the matter, Sub Inspector of Police Ahmed Shiyam told the newspaper.



http://minivannews.com/society/expat-doctors-deserting-maldives-5021

Expat doctors deserting Maldives

Expatriate doctors are deserting the Maldives because of poor facilities and uncertainty over their pay, according to a doctor working at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
“We’ve lost five expat doctors in the internal medicine department in the last four months,” said Dr Ibrahim Shiham. “Only one has been replaced, and from an island so not a new recruit.”
Foreign medical staff are vital to the country’s health services and comprise 85 per cent of the country’s doctors, according to Shiham, most of whom come from India with some from Nepal and Pakistan.
Many are showing reluctance to renew their contracts, Shiham claimed, because the latest round of cuts to government salaries have added to the uncertainty that followed the efforts to standardise civil servant renumeration in January.
“What actually happened was a lot of pay scales were streamlined, and doctors’ basic salary, including allowances, was ultimately down 30 to 40 per cent. So what [the government] did was invent another allowance to take it to the original break-even level. But the extra allowance has no legal standing, and in theory doctor’s salaries got a major decrease.”
With their salaries “propped up and not in the rulebook”, many expatriate doctors “started talking about leaving and looking for other opportunities,” according to Shiham.
“People who’ve been working [in IGMH] for 14-15 years have begun leaving in the last four months,” he added, when their contracts come up for renewal – something he says was rare in the past. “They realised that once they sign the contract there’s not much they can do [if the allowance is withdrawn].”
Deputy Director of the Health Ministry, Abdul Samad Abdul Rahman, said three specialists and six medical officers had left the Maldives in the last two months, and that replacements were declining offers because of the lower wages.


So, there we are again. This is the real situation out here.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Doctors in Maldives

Another Nail in The Coffin


There is something new in the air folks. Doctors wanting to come to Maldives don’t know that most of them will not get posting in Male’ and they will be sent to islands where there will not be any banks or other ways to either keep their money (which you’re going to receive in Maldivian Rufiyaa only, as your salary) or send it to their respective countries. If you keep the money with you, there is no guarantee that you will not be robbed of it. Mainly due to three reasons; 1.- Everyone over the island knows about the exact amount of your salary and when you got it, 2.- All the windows and doors at the place you live look fancy but they are of no use, 3- there is no system of policing here, so in recent times(last 1 year) quite a few mishaps of Doctors and Managers being robbed have happened.

PONDER….PONDER:
1.      The Gynecologist of our hospital(who gets a salary of almost $2500 per month) was robbed after he got his salary 3 months back. Only the next day, someone opened the house by a key as there is no sign of break in, and cut open the suite case where he has kept his money.
2.      Day before yesterday one of our doctors accidentally locked his room and forgot to take keys. Locks are Chinese which can be locked without keys but have to be opened with keys only. Now that he forgot the key inside, he went to the land lords to tell that let them give him the spare duplicate key so that he could retrieve his own key back. The land lord came downstairs with a plastic scale, did something near the lock and it opened up. Only with the help of that scale. Our Mr. Doctor is so shocked by the incidence that now he carries all his valuables with himself on work and doesn’t come outside his room in the free time. He wants to get another lock mounted in that door but since that kind of lock is not available over the island and it will be found in Male’ only, we all are waiting for him to get relaxed. Imagine, everyday morning he comes to duty with a small cabin luggage kind of bag and his laptop. Keeps it in his chamber and goes back with both the things after finishing up his duty hours.

Of course there are some islands which are called Atoll capitals, where there is a hospital. If you get your posting there then there is a branch of the Bank of Maldives over there. A small branch, but it is there. Usually the case was that at least where these Bank branches were located (apart from Male’), you could open an account and take international Visa Debit Card and give this card to your kins in your own country. They could always withdraw money there and all he transaction commissions etc were deducted from your account automatically. It was not difficult or complex. Not for anyone.

Now, from this month (October’2010) onwards all the Visa Debit Cards for foreigner clients are blocked for international use. Banks (not only Maldives Bank, but HSBC or Western Union or Moneygram; whichever was sending money from Maldives to other countries earlier) have denied taking Rufiyaa for sending to other countries. They are asking to give them Dollars only if you want to send money out of Maldives. And Dollars you can’t buy because no bank is selling. They are buying Dollars and other currencies…yes… but selling….’No’.

So, now no one has any idea about how to send money to their country without visiting Male’.  And what’s even more interesting, we are getting news from Male’ that even there the trouble is hanging over them. The Bank counters which used to send money to other countries (in State Bank of India, Habib Bank of Pakistan, Western Union & Moneygram) have started working slower than before, leaving a many in the end who can’t succeed in sending their money that day. This all means that some sort of trouble is ahead. Only time will tell which kind. I fortunately have an account in State Bank of India in Male’ and I am hoping that they will transact money to India at least when I will be finally leaving for India after finishing my 1 year of contract period. Reverse Counting has started. For me 267 more days to go. That’s all. After that I am a free man once again.

Doctors in Maldives & their MANAGEMENT


Here is something interesting for aspirants for the post of Medical Officer in Maldives Govt.’s Ministry of Health & Family.
The attitude of management (let me introduce you once again with this term in Maldives and then I can proceed to tell you about other connected events)
[Management consists of those so called 8th or 10th pass community health workers and some even lower grade educated monkeys {called so because these human forms have no imagination of their own. They will try to see what people are doing in the soap operas of the great Indian Hindi Channels and imitate them without knowing the left & right of it. Just like monkeys do in a zoo.} who behave as if they know everything and they should know everything. Whereas the fact is that even if you try to explain something to them, they simply can not understand anything just because of their monkey like brain. 

You can better understand these people if you have seen movies where some fancy jungle tribes are shown doing ‘Zhinga—lala—hu….zhinga—lala—hoooo...’ dressed in some leafy clothe like things. Here everything is the same only dress is a shiny yellow or shiny green half shirt {choice of colors are exactly like any other Islamic territory} and a brown or black pant. That’s it.

BDTHE = Better Dressed Tribal Human Entity. That’s a Maldivian management person to you.

There is one 6th pass family health worker who was till recently a big official in their so called ministry. He got very angry with Indian doctors complaining that he was not given the respect, which he would have loved to command, when he was visiting the Ministry of Health in New Delhi. Now imagine a middle school passed official {not even politicians. Among politicians it is common to be not educated and still becoming a ruler. Just a misfortune of my country, i.e. our dear India} from anywhere coming and visiting the most brilliant and highly placed IAS officers who don the chair of secretary or even assistant secretary in Indian Ministry of Health misunderstanding this family health worker {who is almost a fourth grade employee according to Indian standards} and not giving him respect. We (me and some other consultants were present in the premises where he was telling these gory details of his visit to India) heard it and truthfully it became difficult to stop our laughs. But we did our best and managed to hide our feelings until we were out of the Ministry office. Of course that fellow was complaining very wholeheartedly.
This all is part of the management squad which is bigger than total number of doctors available in that territory. Plus there are few people in budget section (usually 4 to 5) who religiously try to calculate your salary for the whole month and at the end finish up with either miscalculating it in their or your favor. Yes, sometimes they can even overpay you and ask the money back as soon as they find their mistakes although most of the time it is not giving you as much you should get. Each month you have to sit and take your precious 1 or 2 hour and do the calculations for yourself and match with their figures.  Or else you’re gonna be a loser.

So, after your refreshments (in terms of refreshing thoughts about management in Maldivian system) we return back to our original discussion.
The attitude of management towards doctors or nurses or any other staff which has come from outside Maldives is such as with the bondage labor. Perhaps they have been bondage labor in hands of British and other European Colonial Forces for so long that they only now this even in today’s era. But for their kins they become softer than butter. You’ll see a boy of 10 years having an abrasion over hand with small pin point bleeding which is not even active now and his father will acting as if he is witnessing his son die of bleeding. A scene straight out of Hindi soap Opera style moments. People will be running with that boy in a herd as if he is terminally injured. God’s mercy over the attending doctor if it is not over his face or head. Because if so, it will be called ‘Head Injury’ and you have to act as if you have to stop that non-existent bleeding fast and save that boy from an almost sure death. The management will try to tell you that this case is the most important of all and should be attended first. And may be even referred to a higher center if needed.

There is a provision of a break of 1 hour during your 8 hour long duty hour. This is nice as long as it’s being is concerned. What actually happens that as soon as you start your break and start walking towards your residence where you are supposed to take some sort of meal, someone with a small abrasion or a bout of epigastric pain will come and the management will call you in panic (don’t get befooled. They know it is nothing but a minor thing and the patient can wait for hours to see the doctor if the need comes.). But you will be called by the management with words like ‘doctor…emergency patient.’ And then the phone will be disconnected as if all the people are busy managing that emergency case. Now you leave your eating plans and come back to the health center where a stupid situation is awaiting you. No matter how many times you try to explain that you are also a human being and need the usual things like food and rest, they wont listen to you.

Suppose you have admitted a patient or kept him/her under observation and after finishing your duty have come home leaving that patient in perfect peace and tranquil in the ward.  You have in mind that you will take some rest and by the time that IV fluid will finish you’ll go there and discharge the patient as the case is settled. No sir…never. That case is not at all settled. People will call you again and again about how that patient wants to go to pass urine now…or may be he or she is crying and missing his or her boyfriend or girlfriend (as the case may be)…or that the paper in school, due to which the patient landed up in the health center at the first place so as to avoid it, is finished so that so called bastard wants to be discharged. You have to go and obey the wishes.

Here admission or discharge of patients is not as per doctor’s wish. Patients come to say we want admission…or no we want discharge…or I want medical certificate for 7 days, from 2 days back to 4 days in advance as I am having cough since last 2 days and not only I have not attended work since last 2 days, I don’t want to work for 4 more days. And the management will be standing on back of it.

And now you suppose (may God be with you and your sickness) you got sick. I actually did get sick with right hypochondrial colicy pain. Naturally it was difficult to sit and I requested to be on sick leave that day to which the Management  readily agreed. Only they started calling me for each and every patient and I had to attend calls even in that condition. I was having difficulty in walking. I told them so. But they kept calling again and again for every  case of dandruff to abrasion and after 11th call my ability to tolerate pain was finished and I had to give up the idea of rest and I sat down in the consultation room itself for the remaining 3 hours of my so called duty hours.
I talked with surgeon on call about it as anti-spasmodics were not helping. We agreed on some treatment which I started then and there. 2 days of treatment didn’t given even a 4 – 5 hours relief and upon re-consultation it was agreed that I should visit a nearby hospital (which happens to be the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Male’) for USG and follow up.
Now comes the management’s part. They decided all by themselves that I should wait for another 2 days before going to Male’. I queried the health worker (the supposed In-charge guy) that how could you all decide about my condition when the surgeon is asking to come for a USG Scan? They remained silent but didn’t say anything positive. I got angry. Bought the ticket of speed launch myself and told them that let them complain in the ministry about my un-authorized leave, but I was going to IGMH for USG scan. Then in he morning when I was almost reaching Male’ information came that I should visit ministry (in the same condition with colicy pain going on) to get the papers for my supposed free treatment in IGMH. I simply went to IGMH without going to ministry, paid my own bills, got some more help in medicines after surgeon’s consultation as it was actually a case of Acute Cholecystitis, and returned back to my island all by myself.

So, here is the place for you. Almost our enemies dictating your every move. Beware folks. The guarantee of being and remaining sound (health wise) will be the first need from your side before you submit to a contract from where there’s no way out for 1 year. There is way out after 6 months but it is so costly that you would agree for 6 more months to finish the contract and run away from here forever. Agreed that not everybody’s experience will be like this.
But mine was. Is. And one of my doctor friend’s was as well, who was left without a companion…being referred from hospital to hospital (first to their Atoll hospital then to their regional hospital) only on the name of protocol, suffering from Dengue and ultimately landed up at IGMH after 2 flights. All alone and  bleeding with a canula in one hand, rashes all over, severe gastritis due to internal bleedings with every possible chance to collapse with a  platelet count of 16 thousand. You can imagine his shock and desire to live and helplessness. I was praying to God for his life all the time when he was sitting at different airports without any medical (or other) escort. His luck was good. He left Maldives alive within a few weeks and never returned back. You mention the name of Maldives and his wife becomes silent with wet eyes (she was in India when this all was happening. Actually there was a moment when she and his father were wanting to come here but I stopped them because by that time my doctor friend was actually only 2 hours away from Male’ where in IGMH he could get proper attention at last along with platelet transfusion and all). It is something you ought to feel. You can never understand until you live these moments even as a spectator.

MANAGEMENT in Ministry of Health, Maldives  didn’t even apologize for the irrational behavior they showed towards us, neither to him, nor to me. And to think that for a Maldivian even ureteric colics get referred immediately without any fuss to wherever is possible. And we are the people who do it with all the efficiency.

Nice Stories to ponder over.