I saw a 44 year old lady civil servant this morning who came complaining of general body weakness and occasional breathing difficulties... rather unspecific complaints. I could not elicit any significant physical signs except for a visible small lump in her neck (would have escaped me had she worn the veritable headscarf!).
On further probing, I came to understand that this obese lady had been on a specialist follow-up clinic for some time now for goitre (enlarged thyroid gland in the neck) and according to her she had missed a few appointments and whenever she returned to the clinic, she would be chided and made to feel quite small. She missed her appointment again four months ago and was quite scared to return this time! Defaulting a clinic follow-up for a metabolic disease is not wise at all as uncontrolled disease-induced changes in the body may well be permanent.
I also recall a younger woman suffering from psoariasis ( a form of persistent skin disease) who had also stopped going to another specialist clinic on account of being scolded whenever she missed her appointment. She would rather go to a general clinic whenever her disease flared up and thus not getting the full benefit of optimum available treatment.
There is a need to understand this unfortunate state of affairs both from the patient and health staff perspectives. While patients need to be more responsible for their health, health staff too need to live up to their slogan "Kami Sedia Membantu" (We are ready to Assist) and translate their highly touted corporate culture values of "Caring, Professionalism and Teamwork" into tangible actions!
It is sad to see this kind of slip-up in our health care system where continuity of care is disrupted due to overbearing staff and uneducated patients. Uneducated here is defined as lack of knowledge about their intractable disease conditions.
On further probing, I came to understand that this obese lady had been on a specialist follow-up clinic for some time now for goitre (enlarged thyroid gland in the neck) and according to her she had missed a few appointments and whenever she returned to the clinic, she would be chided and made to feel quite small. She missed her appointment again four months ago and was quite scared to return this time! Defaulting a clinic follow-up for a metabolic disease is not wise at all as uncontrolled disease-induced changes in the body may well be permanent.
I also recall a younger woman suffering from psoariasis ( a form of persistent skin disease) who had also stopped going to another specialist clinic on account of being scolded whenever she missed her appointment. She would rather go to a general clinic whenever her disease flared up and thus not getting the full benefit of optimum available treatment.
There is a need to understand this unfortunate state of affairs both from the patient and health staff perspectives. While patients need to be more responsible for their health, health staff too need to live up to their slogan "Kami Sedia Membantu" (We are ready to Assist) and translate their highly touted corporate culture values of "Caring, Professionalism and Teamwork" into tangible actions!
It is sad to see this kind of slip-up in our health care system where continuity of care is disrupted due to overbearing staff and uneducated patients. Uneducated here is defined as lack of knowledge about their intractable disease conditions.
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