A little clearer now

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, we have received some updates, via comments as well as other means. First and foremost, our sincerest apologies to the admin. The ministry is actually looking after our well-being. They are trying to make the working conditions appealing to all of us. This is good to know. All this time most of us thought that they are just letting the doctors go without any fight. We would like to thank again most of our bosses in Jalan Menteri Besar who are looking out for us, and not just for their own interests.

Some of us here are not being told of what is happening there in Jalan Menteri Besar, that was why some of us decided to go here as there was no other safe avenue for us to voice our concerns. All we hear are rumours, second or third hand stories. Occasionally one or two facts come out. Even something as important as the on-call allowance and scheme of service, we are not privy to the information. Is it such a top secret thing? There must have been a link or person somewhere that stops the information from reaching us in the front-line.

We will hope that in the near future, the working conditions improve and we will continue to serve our people.

On-call

Somebody brought up the issue of on-call allowance. We will try to broach this subject slowly as it is quite a long story and a story with no apparent end in sight. We want to write a long post on this by decided that it might be better to do it in parts and we can discuss this as we go along.

As civil servants, we are expected to work during normal office hours.But as doctors, we do also work outside of these working hours as patients do not just get unwell during office hours. We do on-calls. We stay overnight in hospitals. We work weekends. We work at night. We work in shifts. We do all this to serve the public. Unfortunately we do not get paid to work outside these hours. This is why when the general order is mentioned, rather than concentrate on our clothes, tardiness, we tend to say why are we not paid for the extra hours? It should work both ways.

Does this sound surprising to anybody that we are not being paid for extra hours? Is it fair for us to ask for on-call allowance? We will leave it at that and continue at a later time.

Are you Special?

A question most commonly asked to doctors is “Inda kau jadi specialist?” or “Why don’t you become a specialist?” This is easier said than done and for some it may sound like a rhetorical question as that is the ultimate aim of training. But does the public actually know what it means to be a specialist? Do the doctors know? Does the administration know? Does the Public Service Commision know?

What does it take to become a specialist?

• Certificate of (Specialist) Training?
• Higher specialist training?
• Clinical Masters?
• Diplomas?
• Skills?
• Experience?
• Overseas for many years?
• Overseas attachment for a few months?
• Connections?
• All of the above?

Many specialists in Brunei now are very good in what they do and they do have the qualifications to work anywhere in the world and we sometimes think that we would do well in other countries. We are thankful for what the Brunei Government has given to us. There is a body that actually decides what it takes to be a specialist, an elite group of people including doctors and administrators. It is just that this body needs to be more transparent and consistent.

By firmly knowing our career progression, this will actually help reduce the brain drain in the medical community, This came from some of us who have gone through the system in getting where we are now. For some it is clear cut; for others, it is not known. From what we heard, some specialties have to be engineered in Brunei as it does not exist anywhere else in the world.

Maybe the Brunei Medical Association can help.

As usual, comments and further information would be useful.

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