“This is the generation that speaks no fear, and thinks of all the big possibilities.”
MMI Insight 2020 #11
“After all, health is the core element of every society in the world. Without health, there is no progress.”
I always felt the passivity and the lack of initiative in students; always heard about complaints from specialists about their house officers, about their incompetence; the bullying and the toxic work culture; the lack of kindness and respect for vulnerable junior healthcare workers; all of which are issues that stem from a strong patriarchal and hierarchical system that shouts “I know better”.
Do you know better?
“Shaping Our Decade”, to me, means progressing and developing to a community or a society that acts with kindness, respect and humility. With some working experience in Australia, I do feel that the hospital environment in Malaysia is harsh and unjust. While I cannot generalise this to all hospitals, the workplace culture and interpersonal work relationship impart a strong hierarchical presence that forms the scaffolding in healthcare management, that ripples in a downward spiral fashion right to the core of patient care. It is true, doctor-patient care in Malaysia is very much patriarchal. Perhaps, health literacy in Malaysia is so weak that doctors do know better.
In the next decade, I wish to see medical school train leaders, not students; I wish to see senior doctors train junior doctors as if they are their equal; I wish to see patients’ health literacy improve; I wish to see doctors get fair and just treatment, that is, higher wage, better welfare and most importantly, better support.
How do we achieve all this?
A lot of which I believe stems from us, as medical students. Fortunately, this is the generation that speaks no fear and thinks of all the big possibilities. But this is also the generation that is being rendered powerless, mostly still due to patriarchy. With time, leaders of this generation will soon revolutionise the way workplace culture should be. This generation will speak in a new unspoken language that will soar high and mighty that our predecessors will envy. I believe that it is only a matter of time, that the medical community will finally be able to attain a new and better normal. After all, health is the core element of every society in the world. Without health, there is no progress. Until then, join us in our upcoming Summit for we will enlighten you with a perspective you haven’t heard before.
Dr Darien Liew Daojuin is a recent medical graduate from Monash University Malaysia. He currently serves as the Co-Convenor on the Malaysian Medical Summit 2020 Committee and is also the Executive Co-Chair of the MMI Executive Council.
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