It is a small village in the kecamatan of Tambusai, Kabupaten Rokan Hulu in the Province of Riau, Sumatra. During the Padri Wars of 1830's , Tuanku Tambusai (aka known as Fakeh Hj Muhammad Salleh ) fought the Dutch forces together with Imam Bonjol and Tuanku Rao in West Sumatra and in Northern Sumatra .The last defence was in Benteng 7 Lapis,Daludalu which fell in 1838. He escaped capture and came to Malaya. He was buried in Rasah in 1882.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Getting Past The Gatekeeper
On Tuesday 18 May 2010 I managed to keep an appointment with The Director of the Institute of Respiratory Medicine of HKL which is situated just next to the Jalan Pahang interchange. I began to see this specialist more than ten years ago upon my return from attending a senior administrative course at LBS in London when I complained of chest pains. It was my officer who suggested that I see this specialist because he was acquainted with both husband and wife when he was in the Health Ministry and I consented. It was quite a breeze then to fix the appointment because I was still a serving officer and this specialist doctor was a junior specialist. Although I had been a patient but my file is not that active and the last visit was less than two years ago. So when I phoned up to make an appointment to see the top gun in that place, there were many questions asked and I almost abandoned the hope of seeing the doctor. Since I am now a pensioner, the gatekeeper being unfamiliar with my name as the patient gave many excuses so that I just go and see other doctors there although it was not directly suggested. But I insisted that the doctor knows me as I had been treated a few times over a period of time way back when I was still in service. It was only after mentioning the name of my former officer who introduced to me this particular specialist that I managed to make the appointment. The moral of the episode here is when you have retired from service the entitlement to see a specialist will be closely vetted and only the persistent ones gets through the gatekeeper. That is the way of the world.
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6 comments:
Hahaha, if you'd just realised the fact, Akhi AHS, then you've been saved from a lot of anguish. Once you're a pensioner, I've heard even an ex-KSN saying that people in the government service just ignore you, especially the young ones who had never heard of youbefore. At least now you've a pensioner's card as an ID, which you can't, of course, show on the phone to make an appointment. You're lucky if you don't get shouted at by some of the young, swanky front office guards. That's why I always try to get a serving officer to help me through the gate-keepers. Sometimes they are the cause of the service getting a bad name.Salam.
Akhi Norzah,
Alhamdulillah, I had psyched myself 3 years before my retirement what I would be facing vis-a-vis the government bureaucracy when you want something done which you cannot avoid.
There are times when you do not want to bother your former officers and this is just one of the few. I agree totally with what you have said. Once we hold the card, we just become one of the numbers. I do not mind that, but if ever I do get shouted at, I would just shout back much louder which I am still good at since the days of the Parade Square.
Dear Hal,
That's reality of life. If we maintain our composure it would be less frustrating. At least we are better off than a one-time CPO who was thought unreasonable in office that his subordinates were just waiting for his last day.
For the next few months he was getting summons from his men on the least pretext ( the same people who barely a few months before greeted him with a made up smile!)
Dear Hank,
As I said, I had anticipated what I would go through once becoming an ordinary citizen and I had long ago told my children that in life, the world does not owe us a living. I had prepared myself psychologically to face the same hardships when faced with the faceless bureaucracy as experienced by the man in the street. I did not expect any favour from anyone across the counter. But as a pensioner, I am still entitled to have access to the same healthcare which is accorded to those still in service. Nothing more, nothing less.
AHS
Do I say I am lucky because my service did not entitle me to claim any such benefit in the first place? I paid taxes too but ....
Dear Pak Cik,
Short of being called an ingrate for the continuing benefits of health and medical care to government pensioners, I am just telling that one must be 'fit' to get past the obstacles which sometimes are man-made. If I were to have served the private sector where the pay and the perks at the top level, I would have made alternative arrangements to tide over my helathcare and not depend on public institutions.
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