NOTE: This post was originally written in the middle of April, but I hesitated to publish this because it's a little hard, and I feel upset and angry writing this, but you know what, let's do it.
If you think these happen in fiction, think again. This post touches on sensitive topics so feel free to skip it if you don't like it, although I'll try to make it bearable and light-hearted so that it's not all doom and gloom. Can you believe we are already survived past the pandemic one year? Erm, unfortunately, I still tend to get weird phone calls and enquiries, people never cease to amaze me.
Giving Up A Child
A colleague attended this case. This happened at close to midnight, my colleague was on duty that day and she received this whatsapp:
I want to know whether if (your place) can give up child.
Bloody hell. What the --
Abortion in Malaysia is mostly illegal except in cases when a medical practitioner deems that continuing the pregnancy poses a danger to the mother's life, physical health, and mental well-being. Abortion in Malaysia is regulated under Sections 312-316 of the Penal Code.
Source: Penal Code Act 574 - TP LULUS 21_2_2018 agc.gov.my
Source: Pin on Kingdom Hearts, Saved from salmonypink.tumblr.com, shared by Megan Fitzwilliam https://www.pinterest.com/pin/207306389078024359/
Good thing she immediately slammed the notion down. No, it is against the law. The only time when medical abortion is considered is when the mother's health is endangered. Even then, abortion is illegal. This wasn't even the first case I received. I myself had also encountered one person who wanted to abort their child. They tried to threaten me, but I put my foot down and told them outright, "Abortion is outright illegal. The only thing I can advise you is you may consult our gynaecologists and ask for their advice." Don't you dare threaten me over something illegal.
Egg Donors
This one made me a little blurry. I thought it was related to fertility or something. No, it's not selling eggs. I'm not that naive.
This Ain't No Charity
This tends to pop up from time to time. Someone will send us enquiries that they want to donate an organ. Being naive, I thought, "Oh, okay. Let's get you arranged with the donor coordinator specialist..." That's not the case. These are people who are....selling their organs. It's not a typo. This is real. One of the enquiry we received was someone who wrote "I want to donate my kidney." So we thought, oh, okay. That's nice. Let's help you arrange an appointment. Nope, the red flags started popping out when the person started saying they do not have money, and they want us to give them compensation. Oh my GOD!!!! They weren't the first enquiry we received, we also received another enquiry from another person. This one is a stubborn one, they persisted for compensation, saying they needed tips and compensation. Look, I get it. Times are hard, especially with Covid throwing everything into chaos, but it's ILLEGAL. We were trying to be polite but our hands were forced when they persisted for compensation. In the end, we have to write it out in black and white: WE DO NOT ACCEPT COMPENSATION FOR ORGANS!!! Thankfully, they backed out in the end. I asked my dad regarding this. He said in some countries, where people are desperate, yes, they do sell an organ to get money in return, but not here. If you come up to me asking about this, I will scream.
Give Me Your Balance
Desperate times call for crazy requests. I attended this case. Desch asked for covid vaccination. My apologies, you will need to wait for the government because I can't give an answer. The covid vaccine is controlled by the government, and the list in their hand. I cannot interfere, I can only await for their direction and guide accordingly. Umaro stated that they understood what I'm trying to say, but then they dropped this bombshell:
Desch: I know that you are carrying the vaccine at your place. Is it possible if you can give me the balance?
Me: I don't understand....
Desch: Well, the covid vaccine needs to be mixed right? And it can only last about 2 - 3 hours, right? I don't believe that you can distribute 2,000 a day.
Me: I really don't get what you're saying.
Desch: Well, let's say in your list there's 2,000 people who are supposed to take the vaccine. And somehow 4 people did not turn up due to some personal reasons. So you will have 4 vaccines balance, right? Can I take the balance and distribute it to the public instead?
OH. MY. FREAKING. GOD.
I try to minimize swearing but this is ridiculous. What in tarnation.... Thankfully, I told Desch, under no circumstances are we allowed to freely give the vaccine everywhere. No, no, NO! You can't do that! You have to wait for your turn, for God's sake! How did you come up with that brilliant idea of taking hospital's balances?! How dare you. I couldn't shake them off, so I have to get my MO involved. Thankfully, after a stern, no-nonsense talk to, Desch backed down. I'm not going to share further here because till this day, thinking about it made me so angry. The absurd length some people will go to.
FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out. Ever since the vaccine touched down to Malaysia, people have been bombarding us to release the vaccine.
I don't know about you, but ever since Miss Rona showed up and I shifted, I feel like I'm heading out to war and had to carry a riot shield, because I can assure you, getting threatened and hurled verbal abuses is almost a recurring thing for me, hence the riot shield. There is always that one person who will call or send an enquiry, and when you try to talk politely and explain to them kindly, they will outright attack you, calling you all sort of horrible things (Which will be in another post in the future, I guess, depending on my mood) and you can't do anything but swallow everything down because, like it or not, the customer is always right, but I do recall a doctor who kindly told me, "Sometimes, you don't have to take it all, but when they cross the line, you are allowed to defend yourself, but in a polite, kind way, not outright attacking them."
Define Emergency and Non-Emergency
I feel like this term is extremely used lightly. I kid you not, everytime when I work night shifts, I can get calls or enquiries at the crack of dawn (like 2 - 5 am in the morning), asking me for appointments, most of them follow up cases. When I ask them why, I tend to get answers like "Oh, I missed out my follow up"/ "My meds finished already, that's why I need this appointment now." Um, like why??? Who's going to open clinics in the morning? My doctors are asleep till the next morning, for crying out loud. Especially the follow up cases. Why would you contact our side? We are not a centralized appointment system. The reason why I always say we will follow back up is because doctors, especially those who does procedures or surgeries, tend to have things allocated, hence why we always need to clarify back. A good example is the obstetrician's side. Whenever a baby is coming, the obstetrician have to abandon his clinic to go and help the mommy in labour. You can't exactly ask the baby to come out after clinic hours right???
Another common answers I get is, "It is an emergency!" For me, emergency means go to emergency now without further delay. Or if you can't afford private sector, go to any 24 hour clinic or the government. Nope, I get yelled at again that they want to see the doctor NOW/ TODAY. I can assure you if I call my doctors in the middle of the night regarding this, they will come after me for disturbing their sleep. If it's life threatening, like bleeding, vomiting, diarrhoea, unable to breathe or chest tightness, just go to emergency for God's sake. Please value your life and health! You only live once.
