Part 4- Settling In [end]

On my second day of working in KK, I ran down a man with my car.

It was just after work. My fingerprint ID was not registered in the system yet, so I just walked out the clinic once the clock stroke 5 pm. I parked my car in front of the main building; the sheltered parking slots for medical officers were full and I don't have my favourite parking place yet.

My mind was in a dazed. After two days of learning the ropes of working in KK, I more or less managed to function serving the locals here, albeit only at 60% efficiency I gathered. I learnt the basics of antenatal ultrasound scanning, doing the RMEs (routine medical examination) for both the pregnant ladies and children, managing the diabetes mellitus and hypertension patients, and knowing when to refer to the district hospital or the tertiary hospital.

Before I reversed the car, I had checked the rear mirror and it was clear. But stupid me didn't realized that I did a left turn reverse. And who was there, minding his own business as he was putting his medicine into the basket case of the motorbike but an elderly gentleman with a DISABILITY?

The crash was soft but unmistakably "crunchy". I thought I only ran over a parked motorbike. I quickly went out to inspect the bike but to my absolute horror there's a man lying on the ground, his already deformed left leg pinned down by his own bike. I heaved up the bike, releasing the man from the weight and the other staff, who quickly went out to see what's going on, helped the poor man on his ground.


We assessed the man and he was fine. He repeatedly said he was fine, that he had nothing serious. But I was chagrined and feeling dreadful. The old man then rode his bike off with his broken side mirror without me having the chance to give him some money. There's a slight dent at my car's bumper but the dent in my heart was much bigger.


I met the old man, again, last month when he came for his appointment. Turned out he was in my care zone (I covered a certain radius of area here that covers a number of villages, including the one this old man from) and I was free to see him. When he came in to the room and sat down, as soon as we had eye contact both of us were remembering the day I ran him over. Both of us smiled sheepishly and we ended the consultation with a laugh.


There's too much to tell about what's happening in the last 4 months of me working here in KK. Much of it is uneventful. At times I do miss the craziness and the peculiarity of the cases found back in Klang, but with the advantages of lunch break, acceptable patient load and the very fact that I can go back home by 5pm sharp on weekdays (weekends off, uolls), I am liking this new workplace very much so.


With it, however, came an end for my ambition to pursue FRCEM papers. I took a few months to come to term with it, and as of now, I am not looking to pursue any paper, not even FMS. This might change in the future, but for now I am very much in the knee-deep preparing for a big chapter in my life and what may come later will just have to wait.


That's it for my last part of new MOship transfer posts. I will be posting less frequently about my work here (seeing that there's hardly exciting thing to talk about) and I foresee that I will actually post only 3-4 posts per year. This blog is far from dead, though. Just drop a comment if you guys have any suggestion/question and thank you for reading!