Visit fails to dampen resolve

Star: KLANG: The doctors were too busy to eat.
Angry-looking patients crowded waiting areas, sick babies wailed after vomiting sour clumps of milk and the stench of a decomposed body filled the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital mortuary.
This was the reality check for a group of bright students who had applied for government scholarships to do medicine overseas.
They were at the hospital for the compulsory Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor (Doctor Occupation Exposure Programme) before being called for an interview by the Public Services Department.
Were they affected by the blood, gore and pain so routine to doctors and other medical staff?
Some would-be medical students looked bewildered and others tried hard not to let their surprise show too much. But few were dissuaded from becoming a doctor.
“Blood does not scare me. It is understandable that the patients are grouchy because they are in pain. Bodies are all right, I said a prayer for the departed souls before entering the mortuary,” said Lau Ron Hsien, 17, from Kota Kemuning in Shah Alam.
“I still want to be a doctor, I want to heal,” said Ron Hsien who scored 10 A1s and 1A2 in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
Ron Hsien, who was a member of St John’s Ambulance in his school SMK USJ 13, has seen his fair share of blood and dislocated joints.
He wants to be a doctor and find a cure for cancer, a disease that killed his grandmother when he was eight years old.
Nadiah Mohd Sukree, 17, was also inspired to be a doctor after losing a loved one.
Her brother Ahmad Hakimi died of heart failure when he was only four months old.
“I want to be a cardiologist and am dedicating this medical journey to him,” said the SPM scorer from Kapar with 9A1s and 1B3 to her credit.
Yeoh Chen Lee, 18, from Klang, who scored 11A1s in the SPM, said not all bright students wanted to be doctors.
“Some of my clever friends want to be businessmen and earn lots of money. Others want to be accountants or engineers,” he said.
“I know it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice to be a doctor but I really feel good about being able to heal.”