MAY 19 — Should it be: “I will give you a sick leave chit (MC) for the day.” Or “Can I have an MC?”
The first scenario would naturally mean the medical practitioner having met the patient, diagnosed him or her before deciding if the patient truly needs the day off to rest.
The second situation would be the patient asking the doctor for an MC, which would usually see the doctor obliging.
While doctors have to put up with some patients who believe they “know it all”, medical practitioners still have the final say when it comes to evaluating the condition of a patient. Thus, they should be given the right to give or deny a person an MC as per the Medical Act and the professional code of ethics.
Yet, there are doctors who are eager to make a quick buck by selling MCs.
Malay Mail exposed a clinic in Taman Selayang Jaya that sold MCs – including postdated and backdated sick leave chits – for between RM20 and RM40. Our reporters, who went undercover as patients on two occasions, were not allowed into the clinic and the entire transaction happened outside the premises, with metal gates separating the “patient” and “clinic staff”.
The modus operandi was simple: Just ring the doorbell and a man would take down your particulars and document it in an exercise book before issuing an MC.
Despite repeated requests to meet the doctor, our reporters were told the doctor was not around. They bought the MC and left.
Our reporters described the entire transaction as similar to buying a bus ticket. It was that easy.
Following our frontpage expose on Saturday, the Selangor Health Department raided the clinic the same day and confiscated MCs and exercise books, believed to contain details of those who had bought the MCs.
Even more shocking was that the man who had attended to our reporters, claiming the doctor was not around, was later discovered to be the doctor running the clinic!
This jogs back memories some 13 years ago where Malay Mail conducted a similar exercise on a clinic in Kampung Baru. The article “A clinic for the malingerers” published on September 17, 2001, revealed that for RM10, one could obtain an MC and a receipt of up to RM25 over the counter to make fake claims from their company.
It is both sad and disappointing that some doctors resort to such action to make a quick buck and tarnish the reputation of the profession. Doctors are often accorded the highest respect, for they are often seen as “healers” with the ability to save lives.
But it is not just the medical profession alone. We tend to forget the millions, if not billions, spent on those who take sick leave.
A 2013 survey showed Malaysian employers lost some RM8.22 billion due to medical leave. The survey by the Malaysian Employers Federation was based on the 6.5 million private sector workers nationwide.
I wonder if the number would significantly be reduced if we could separate those who are indeed sick and those who pretend to be ill.
Employers also spend a whopping RM3 billion a year in overtime payments to workers replacing those on medical leave. Would that same sum be better spent on workers’ welfare and bonuses?
Doctors, you still, generally, have my utmost respect. But the authorities must take stern steps against the black sheep who continue to mar the good name of the profession.
Remember the Hippocratic Oath: “I will keep them from harm and injustice”? Well, it does not just apply to the patient but also to the profession, the economy and the nation.
“So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.”
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
