Materia Medica Malaysiana

Keep smiling, MMA tells docs

PETALING JAYA: Doctors who seem unfriendly may be bogged down by heavy workload, said Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Datuk Dr N. Arumugam who maintains that doctors in general are friendly to patients.
But Dr Arumugam agreed that unfriendly doctors would give the profession a bad image.
“It is always good to have smiling doctors because people go to them with problems,” he said yesterday.
He said doctors who were stressed out might forget to smile, “and they need a gentle reminder about this because everybody in the healthcare system needs to be more proactive,” when commenting on Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican’s remark last week that a friendly disposition and the doctor’s white coat would contribute to a positive image for the medical profession.
Dr Arumugam said the MMA encouraged doctors to wear their white coats and name tags during office hours.
The white coat, he said, lent a positive image that reinforced a patient’s confidence in the doctor, whereas the name tag was essential for identification.
Dr Arumugam hoped that the new director-general would address issues that affected doctors, such as working conditions, promotions and allowances.
“The doctors are upset because nurses and policemen received benefits, but there has been no increase in overtime allowance for doctors for many years,” he said.
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Kuljit Singh said wearing the white coat had always been protocol for doctors.
However, the dress code was usually not observed by doctors who worked in hospitals without air-conditioning, as it could get hot and uncomfortable, he said.