Foul!

As published in Malay Mail today. HARESH SAYS Haresh Deol ACHOO! The sound of Mr Trainee sneezing echoes throughout the hypermarket.  While manning the cashier, he rubs his nose with his bare hand, mucous and all spread across his palm and he dries it off by rubbing his hand on his pants. “RM49.70” he says as he hands out his bacteria-laden hand, flashing a smile without realising some of his nose residue is sticking on his upper lip. And there is no need to wonder why nine out of 10 people lining up at the checkout lanes were either coughing or sneezing. It is in the air, so they say. Some claim it tends to get hot and dry during the Chinese New Year, so they blame it on Mother Nature.  And the first place they go to is their neighbourhood general practitioner (GP). Oh yes, the flu and cough doctors who some, without even taking your temperature or listening to your heartbeat, will quickly prescribe two strips of paracetamol or a ...

The new healthcare system - 1Care for 1Malaysia - will be managed by a single body. Many had earlier assumed that if it is run by a single company, it would spell monopoly as seen here . There are those who believe there is nothing wrong with the current system as written here . Several GPs spoke to the author claiming the whole project "is rushed". It was reported in the NST last year that it will take at least 10 years for the scheme to be implemented but the ministry have broken the time line into several phrases with a bulk of the project being introduced by 2015 with full implementation in 2020. This was confirmed by deputy health minister Rosnah Rashid Shirlin ( pic ) who told the author the funds of the 1Care system will be managed by "a single not-for-profit government autonomous agency that will be supervised by the Health Ministry (MoH)". "The universal coverage already exists in Malaysia whereby people have access to health care and nobody is d...