0645
Left home for work. Made a hot milo drink beforehand to drink while driving, with its liquid steaming warm and cozy in the black tumbler. Had to endure exactly 11 traffic lights during the drive, which depending on luck, will almost all turn green or red upon approaching the lights. The drive usually on a happy side of note thanks to the radio morning talk show and the calming paddy field scenery along the way. Sometimes curses words were uttered as I had to tow in line the tortoise-pace of village folks cycling or riding motorcycle in the middle of the village town road.
0735
Arrived at KK. Parked the car at the back of the main building at the usual spot. No roof or anything, but it's the closest spot to the building. Do I worry about the scorch of the sun baking the insides of my car and melting my wipers? Yes. Will I do something about it? Nah, fam. Punched in for the day and went to my room. Brought out my laptop, plugged the cable in, refilled my cheap-ass China-made humidifier with the tap water at the sink behind my chair, switched on Spotify and picked the Malay classic playlist.
0745
Walked to the shop lot next to the KK compound as my only sole sorry excuse of exercising. There's only three things to do in one of these days. It's either a walk to the bank to deposit my hard-earned locum money or going to the 7-11 store to buy sambal ikan bilis bread, or a walk across the road to buy kuih.
0800
The official starting working hours of klinik kesihatan. Usually patients already came as early as 7.30 am (you people are insane) where they will register first, wait for their turn to have vital signs taken, then wait some more before being called for blood test or nurse check up or to be seen by doctors, respectively. Sometimes there are other things to attend to so early in the morning such as quick meeting among us doctors, other portfolio tasks or auditing work that need to be updated. Or it could be just a casual morning with casual conversation all around.
0830
Started seeing patients. Here we see patients according to the zones covered. There are two zones, each covering a number of villages. I cover Zone 1, meaning all patients who come from Zone 1 will be seen by me. The two big chunks of cases I see are of NCD and MCH. NCD is non-communicating diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cholesterolaemia. Those big three is usually coined as penyakit tiga serangkai. MCH stands for Maternal and Child Health, and that includes seeing pregnant mother, postnatal cases, family planning, and child development milestones.
I hated my O&G posting when I was a houseman. I hated kids as well, despite it was a smooth sailing during my posting in Paeds back then. Just my luck to land at KK to do this day by day! But I kinda enjoy it. No lousy rounds, no shouting or telling offs, and definitely no malignant people. I do feel intimidated and unprepared from time to time, but I think I gradually do okay. I make sure my documentation is thorough, so that hospitals won't question my management here. Ye la, MO KK kan MO cabuk je.
1200
Patients started to dwindle in numbers. On better days, I became jobless as early as 11.30 am. On bad days, I finished seeing patient exactly at 1 pm, which then I proceeded to have my lunch.
1300
Oooh, here came the one-hour lunch break. Walked across the road to tapau lunch food. White rice with either chicken or beef with vegetables usually cost me RM4 - RM5.50. Went back to my desk, ate my lunch with much gusto. Once full, I walked to the bed in the room. It was time for daily siesta. Oh yesssss...
1415
Woke up groggily. It's always a good nap if I managed to score one or two dreams in it. Went upstairs to pray Zuhur. Aha, an empty office chair! A lil quick nap of 10 minutes after prayer then.
1430
Patients started to wait outside the door. It's time to see them. Mood still over on the high side, because it's only for another 2 hours and half before finishing work.
1630
No more patients in the clinic. Went upstairs to pray Asar. Started to pack my things.
1657
Switched off the air-conditioners and humidifier. By the time I reached the attendance clocking machine, it would be exactly at 1700 (it comes with a lot of practice of going back exactly on time LOL). Once the machine said, "thank you", I walked to my car, started the engine, and drove away without a backward glance.
1700
The official closing hour of a klinik kesihatan.
1740
Reached home or locum clinic.
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