Dr Do Little

It took him only a minute or two to finish the "examination". He couldn't wait to leave the clinic of the hospital. He didn't touch my painful arm. He hardly talked to or looked at me. He actually scolded the nurse for having called another patient. Apparently I was supposed to be his last patient. It's only a little after 10am. The board shows that his schedule is 8am-11am!

I was so stunned that I didn't know what to say. It happened so fast. Too fast to be true. I didn't even have time to be angry. Did I just see a doctor? Was he a real doctor?

I so regret it to have come to that hospital. The only reason I went there was because it's 10 minutes walk from my apartment. My left arm was so painful that day that I had to keep it still. I'd rather walk slowly than take a cab to go to other hospital/clinic.

It is not a first class hospital but it is not a free one either. The hospital belongs to the Navy. I later heard from other doctor that it could be the so-called frozen shoulder. I am so grateful that it was "just" frozen shoulder. What if I get a very serious illness? Could I trust that kind of doctor who couldn't wait to escape his patients? No wonder there are so many Indonesians go to Singapore and Malaysia to seek better medical services. But, what about those who couldn't afford to go there? Pray a lot, I guess.

I think doctors have no rights to be uncaring. We, the patients, are the ones who pay them. It is our bodies that are at stake. We are the ones who will suffer from their wrong diagnosis. We trust them with our bodies and pay them a lot for that. So, what gives them the right to be careless and unsympathetic?

Fortunately, I later found out that there still exist some good doctors out there. A few days later, I went to see a neurologist in Carolus. He talks. He examines. He asks. He cares. He is a doctor.