CONGRATULATIONS DATUK M. SARAVANAN

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has come to the defence of the houseman who was caught reading a newspaper while on duty at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital Emergency Department, by Deputy Federal Territory Minister Datuk M. Saravanan recently.

I simply cannot understand why must the Health Minister himself came out with a statement of defence concerning such a trivial matter. Isn't this the job of the Director General, and surprising he has gone mute.

To me, the Health Minister's explanation is utter rubbish. Why has he to defend this houseman, when the houseman should know that he has patients waiting outside, to be called in to be examined, regardless of the medical status of the patients. Surely, they would not have come to the hospital if they were not ill.

And being just a houseman, it is duty first; not reading a newspapers, regardless of whether the newspaper was left by an earlier patient as explained by the Health Minister. If this very basic rule cannot be understood by the houseman, I do not know what will become of this houseman when be becomes a 'full fledge doctor'.

Please Mr. Health Minister, you have to set good professional examples for these houseman to follow. If you cannot teach them this basis rules, the next thing they will do is to sleep while in office.

I would like to congratulate Datuk Saravanan for raising this matter to the media, and certainly what he did will keep other houseman alert, and not to take the medical profession for granted. Datuk Saravanan had only performed his public duty.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION