Mother's Day 2017 - A mother's unconditional love

This short story a mother and her teenage daughter highlights the unconditional love of a mother for her rebellious daughter who runs away from home, in search of freedom. Despite being hurt so much, the mother still did everything for her out of the love she had for her.

Runaway Daughter Finds A Strange Kindness, Finds Her Way Home

 "Mom, you need to give me some space!" she cried out.

She was sick of her mother's nagging. One day, she decided enough was enough and took the extreme step -- she ran away from home.
With nowhere to go, and no money in her pocket, she met a kind stranger. A stranger who cooked her a meal for free.
A meal that seemed a bit too familiar. How did this stranger know her likes and dislikes? Why was she so kind?
And then the stranger told her about someone even kinder than her. Someone we often take for granted. Someone who has always been there for us from the moment we were born. Someone who loves us, cares for us, puts her own needs aside, and always thinks of us first. Someone who deserves a little more kindness and consideration than what she usually gets.
We all know that someone is none other than our own mother.
The following video is a reminder of a mother’s love for her child that cannot be matched by any other. It is touching and inspiring.

Watch the video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkbNvJhGAJk

Comments

 In our lives there is only person in the world who for certain be willing to lay down her life for us, and that is none other than our mother. There is no greater love than that of a mother. However bad you are and however badly you hurt her, she is the one and only person who will forget and forgive everything and continue to sacrifice for you and for your return.

There is never a feeling of revenge in her heart for her children. Till her last breath she will go all out to serve you as she did from the time she gave birth to you, feed you and shed tears when you cried in pain.

She is the first face of God in our lives. She brought you into the world enduring so much pain, don't make her life painful and let her leave the world with such pain too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers wherever they are and in whatever state they may be in.

Nurses Day 2017

Technology and fading human touch

As we celebrate Nurses Day, the profession that was known for its noble services to the sick and dying is facing its greatest challenges that threaten the very founding principles the institution. These are two-fold. The first is the effects of technological advancements in the treatment of the sick and the second is the concurrent commercialization of the medical and healthcare services. In fact these two factors have not only made healthcare costs to become beyond the reach of the vast majority of people but regrettably also resulted in the loss of personal and humane touch to care of the sick and dying. 

 Sophisticated modern technology has drastically revolutionized the way the sick are treated today. It has made diagnosis easier and treatment more appropriate leading to faster and more complete recovery from many diseases that were deemed incurable just decades ago. Unfortunately these advances in diagnosis and treatment have become too costly to benefit the ordinary man on the street especially in developing countries.

   

Furthermore the highly “mechanized” and "corporatized" healthcare system has also eroded the human touch in the management of patients where nurses traditionally played a crucial role. This new profit-motivated system has little or no consideration for experience and emotional values and many dedicated nurses with experience and right aptitude are sidelined. In many institutions a nurse is reduced to just an extra pair of hands in the wards and clinics, implementing standard operating procedures without fully understanding them. 

We tend to forget that patients are just humans with emotions and feelings that are unique to each individual. We subject patients to extensive investigations and sophisticated treatment but we forget they also need compassion and moral support during their illness. This can only be provided by nurses who have the heart not technology however sophisticated it may be. Unfortunately such nurses are becoming a rarity in our highly mechanized and commercialized healthcare business. We are all familiar with slogans like ‘Service with a smile’, ‘Service a heart’, ‘We care’ and so on but do we really live up to these slogans?

Nurses today work under great difficulties and are under tremendous pressure from within and without. The demands on them are tremendous, at times almost unreasonable. Amidst these limitations we salute those who still hold on to the age-old tradition of offering a smile and a personal touch which the sick and dying need it most.

The adage, “Doctors diagnose nurses cure” highlights the extremely vital role nurses play in the total care of the sick. While the technical aspects of the profession may change with progress, the basic needs of the sick, love and concern, will forever remain unchanged.

Happy Nurses Day!

Housemen training

Provide basic needs for gruesome training

I refer to the letter “Long hours of ‘tagging’ must change with the times” {The Star 20 March}.

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/03/20/long-hours-of-tagging-must-change-with-the-times/

Of late there has been a lot adverse comments expressed on medical housemen training in our government hospitals. As a senior doctor I am compelled to give my input on this important issue. I tend to agree with Contract Doctor that many things are not so happy for the housemen doctors today. In fact the housemanship period had always been a very difficult time for those joining the fraternity at the lowest level of the medical hierarchy. This is more so today when the medical profession has become highly commercialized and doctors churned out in large numbers with poor screening for their aptitude and qualification.

The problem must be looked at objectively and addressed instead of blaming the housemen, their parents or the senior doctors and specialists training them. There little to gain by condemning the long hours of working for housemen as it is here to stay. It is a time-tested system and as has produced some great doctors later in life. The grueling long working hours is essential in the training of doctors to instill the discipline, responsibility, skills and the art of managing a patient which is often very difficult as there is never a text-book patient with a text-book illness.

What is needed in this gruesome training of housemen is proper guidance by the senior doctors and a little assistance from the administrators to make it more conducive to the young doctors to weather the storm. They must be made to feel at “home” and comfortable in their first ever working environment. Their basic needs have to be provided like they used to be before – reasonable food, time and place to rest and freshen up, better facilities for accommodation and leave as entitled. We must not forget that these young doctors in their mid-twenties, in a stressful life today, also need time for rest, recreation and exercise, as 2 years of housemanship is a very long time.

What has happened to the situation where houses officers were expected to stay in and provided with quarters within the hospital premises? I know for certain that besides working long hours without proper break for rest and meals, most of them are forced to stay outside as hostel facilities are not enough to accommodate the large number of housemen. Staying together in housemen quarters not only enable them to be there at all times but also helps to build the spirit of comradeship among them which goes a long way to building the team spirit and offer moral support for one another. Sadly today this facility is not available supposedly due to lack of funds. In some hospitals even food and proper restrooms are not provided for the housemen on call.

As Contract Doctor says the majority of housemen chose their path out of love for their job. The authorities must encourage them and not make them hate what they have set out to do. Specialists and super-specialists doctors do not fall from the sky but come from our young and inexperienced house officers today with all their short coming. Unless we set them on the right path by proper guidance now the future of medical care for the people will be doomed especially now when over-commercialization is disrupting the professionalism in the healthcare industry.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Dinosaur Doctor Penang