Foul!

As published in Malay Mail By Haresh Deol haresh@mmail.com.my KUALA LUMPUR — As the debate for separation of the roles of doctors and pharmacists lingers, general practitioners (GPs) are racing to safeguard their interests in the wake of impending losses and additional costs imposed on them. More than 50 doctors will gather in a closed-door meeting in Kuantan tomorrow to discuss the implications of: • Separating roles of doctors and pharmacies; • Implementation of the goods and services (GST) tax; • Upgrading equipment involved in treating foreign workers; • Growing number of clinics folding up; • Over 4,000 private doctors who have quit in 2013 alone, mostly due to losses. The disgruntled doctors insist these factors will impact their practice come April 1, leaving them little choice but to charge their patients more. They cited rising cost of living and “bullying tactics” adopted by third party administrators as among the reasons for closure of more than 500 cli...

It has been a roller-coaster year for the author. From being named Sports Journalist of the Year , venturing into a new job to receiving several letter of demands (one of them will now be tried next year), 2012 has been an 'interesting' journey. Here are some of the highlights of 2012 as seen on Foul! January Jan 4: Two athletes who competed at the Indonesia Sea Games were tested positive for banned substance. Jan 11: Negri Sembilan physiotherapist See Kim Leong passed away on Feb 5, 2011. Kim Leong's wife Audrey McLeod has not received a single cent as she was told her husband was " not insured ". Jan 14: BAM forms a three-man committee instead of hiring a high performance director. Told you so! Jan 19: The M-League 2012 was hardly a month old and yet it was rocked with match-fixing. Kes rasuah lagi. Jan 24: Contractors at the mercy of workers Jan 26: Johor prince takes over football Jan 28: Doctors against 1Care February Feb 1: Elyas ...

I first wrote about the government's 1Care for 1Malaysia October last year . Earlier today, I received an email which is apparently being circulated to General Practitioners nationwide. They are still against the idea of a single health care system and have set up a facebook page a twitter account. Below is the email sent out to doctors; Dear All, Good job on the setting up of the facebook site - http://www.facebook.com/taknak1care. Thanks $&*%#@. Let us be united and stick to the facts in order to counter this 1 Care thing. The facts are so: 1. This 1 Care Plan is detrimental to our medical profession, whether GP, Specialist, private or public doctors, presently practising doctors and future doctors. 2. It is not law yet and there is still something every doctor can and should do to stop this being shoved down our throats. 3. The way forward MUST involve political clout and action because it ultimately involves legislation -- it is good to read that there is already movement...