Toxic Management Culture

The Ampang Hospital houseman who lodged police reports accusing a specialist of assaulting him on June 28 has made more disturbing allegations of “bullying”.

James (not his real name) said he had lodged two police reports and complained to the management of Ampang Hospital, but no action had been taken by the management.

“I’m still in shock and traumatised by the events that occurred that day,” he said.

“And, I haven’t been able to step foot into that hospital for two days, out of fear and stress. I’ve had to take emergency leave and may have to seek professional help from a psychiatrist to work through this traumatic ordeal.

“As housemen, we are in a training programme which allows for certain mistakes. There should be room to learn and grow. In any case, this specialist has no jurisdiction to assault me in any manner. But, this has been going on for some time.

“I’ve watched this happen to other colleagues as well. But, many do not want to speak up for fear that their current posting will be extended to the point that they themselves give up on the system.”

James urged all housemen who have been tormented and who have been keeping similar issues bottled up in their hearts to come out and speak up, so that justice would prevail.

“Mine is not an isolated case. There have been many incidences where housemen have suffered depression, mental illness, battled with suicidal thoughts, and just given up on the profession or life in general.

“And in a professional field such a medicine, these occurrences should not be present. Hence, housemen need to be united, instead of allowing this profession to be tainted. We need to support each other and bring this abuse to light. Are we training those in the medical field to be gangsters? We also have to ask ourselves, why is there a 20 per cent dropout rate among housemen?

“This is a compulsory service and we are here to seek guidance. We should not be hit and insulted, sometimes to the point that parents have to intervene.

“Sure, there will be times when we are wrong, but there is a proper way to handle such situations, not by physical or verbal abuse. This has been going on for too long.”

On June 28, James had wrongly presented a case at his training hospital in Ampang. He said the specialist who was supervising him started screaming and shouting profanities.

James had previously commented that this was a very common occurrence in the hospital, as the specialist had also shouted at other hospital staff and used vulgar and sexist language.

“After he finished shouting at me, we continued our rounds. Suddenly, he turned around and grabbed me by the collar, clenched his fist and asked me: ‘You nak saya tumbuk awak?’ (You want me to punch you?).”

They continued with their rounds but he again grabbed James and this time lifted him slightly off the ground, in a choking manner, witnessed by patients, nurses, housemen and medical officers.

James claimed that this was not an isolated incident. In April, he said he had lodged a police report after the same specialist threatened to punch him in the confines of a procedure room. Two days later, James said, he made the same threat.

“Although he didn’t go ahead with the physical assault I made a police report to protect myself,” he said.

James’ friend, who wanted to be known only as Simon, said he had also gone through a similar ordeal.

Supporting his friend and colleague during the interview at NSTP Balai Berita today, he spoke about his own “nightmare” experience training under the same specialist years earlier.

“Most of our parents have spent at least RM300,000 for our medical education. We are not here to mess up. We are just asking for a little respect, a safer work environment. Right now it’s a toxic culture.”