Oh dear, Health Expo shmucks...

Oh no I've gone and done it again...I've chomped down on my tooth again. Luckily I work in a medical centre so I can get corporate rate for any medical work. As it is, it still cost me a few hundred dollars for a crowning (tooth lah!) and a whale-sized headache due to the dentist giving me an OD on local anaesthesia..and this on one of our busiest days yet...oh well, luckily I got through it and thanks to our locum dentist who managed to squeeze what was supposed to be a week's worth of work into a day.

And the whale sized headache wasn't entirely due to the OD though...I spent 4 harried sessions at the recently concluded Brunei 100 years health expo held recently, giving free glucose tests to the lucky 100 every day.

THAT however enlightened me to a very important factor that Bruneians have. L-U-C-K. Healthcare is free for Bruneians. No matter a simple health check or a surgery procedure, its all free as long as you get a referral from the doctor. Now what this means is that health is grossly undervalued. Grossly as with a capital G. Why do I say so? Imagine this scenario; in fact don't bother, I'll just narrate based on experience at the Health Expo:

Me: Selamat pagi, apa khabar?
Patient: Selamat pagi, apa yang kita buat ni??
Me: Hari ini kita ada free glucose checkup...
Patient: Oh ok...bah apasaja tah..

So as I do the relevant procedures to prepare for checkup..

Me: Ada kita makan pagi tadi??
Patient: Ada....
Me: Orh...bagus bagus..lepas sarapan pagi kan check glucose lah..?
Patient: Ya, saya baru saja minum...teh tarik sama tiga biji gula....
Me: Err...ok..bah mari kita check saja dulu aahh...

Now FYI fasting glucose is around 3.9 to 7.0 mmol/L and random glucose is up till 10.0 mmol/L and anything after that is Onset diabetes Type II.

Me: Aiyor, ini kira tinggi lah..[result came out to be 15.3 frikkin mmol/L]
Patient: Ya, kenapa ah? Aku ada makan ubat diabetis pagi tadi orhh!!!
Me: [*&**^&%^**_] Masih tinggi lah, lepas makan ubat sepatutnya dibawah10.0 woah. Bagus kita ke arah Dietician kami ah, dia akan bagi komen makanan yang sesuai ah..terima kasih..

And over the 4 days, I had this scenario repeated more than 7 times. Are they just blissfully unaware or just don't care? Imagine the hundreds of thousands of $$ being pumped into the health sector just to rectify ignorance like this? Let me reiterate; these people know, they just don't care. They think that after that magic little pill then it can be justified, that teh C and roti canai..that money that could have been funding research or directed to hospital improvements and to actual people that needed surgery or post-health care, rather than spending on medicines which these people take for granted. Or take the other guy whom I tested 19.9 and was IN DENIAL!!! Actually enquired about our Opthalmology services after that result for his failing vision when it was blatantly obvious that diabetes onset was causing the vision problems..hello!!! Wake up and smell the roses.

DID you know that teh tarik/teh C/Milo/soft drinks that you order in restaurants in Brunei have equivalent of 7-8 teaspoons of sugar?? Working in the cardiac centre let me inform the uninformed public that a basic surgery to unblock vessels (PTCA/Angiogram) costs around B$20,000 and that a full CABG bypass surgery costs B$50,000++ per patient. Then let me remind you that arterial blockage is caused by sedentary lifestyle, non-exercise, smoking and the "Nasi-Lemak/Katok Syndrome".
Did you also know that eventually if this continues on, the Brunei government will have to start charging fees for each and every procedure and then the people who will really hurt in their pocket will be these ignorant citizens etc whereas those who genuinely care about their health and follow doctor's advice will be the ones who suffer the most..talk about rotten apples spoiling the whole crate...

WAKE UP BRUNEI..YOUR HEALTH IS THE ASSET OF THE COUNTRY, NOT THE LIABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT...you guys expect so much from the country but never give back...apaler....