Thursday, March 19, 2009

how long more have to wait? not urgent enough or bribe not enough?

NST : 2009/03/19

SOS for another 'Elizabeth'
By : Roy Goh

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's dire need for a new hospital is well acknowledged by the government at both the state and federal levels.

Proposals have surfaced but nothing concrete has come out of them and the people of Sabah continue to be deprived of adequate medical services.

Medical services in the state have long been below par and it took a further blow last October.

The Tower Block at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Complex, the "heartbeat" of the state's medical and healthcare service, was declared unsafe and has since been vacated.

The block had 250 beds, eight surgery rooms, an intensive care ward, a radiology services unit, a pharmacy and a forensics unit, among others.
Other units in the hospital remain operational but the tower's closure has created a major void in services, to the extent that patients have had to be transferred to hospitals in nearby districts.

There has been a proposal for the construction of a new hospital, with the state government offering the Federal Government land for the purpose.

This, however, would only fit into a long-term plan and the state's medical and healthcare problem would not be able to wait that long, said a doctor at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital who declined to be named.

There has also been talk that the Health Ministry plans to purchase a private hospital, the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC), as well as acquire a vacant building, Wisma Khidmat, he added.

The proposal to acquire the SMC may cost RM460 million. As for Wisma Khidmat, it is likely to be cheaper.

At present, the SMC provides top-of- the-line facilities, including 460 beds and a cardiotherapy centre, a facility which the state never had although there were plans to build one at a cost of RM300 million.

"We could save on building a new cardiotherapy centre by acquiring the SMC," said the doctor.

Heart patients are currently referred to the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur.

"The cost of transporting a patient on a stretcher is the equivalent of 12 return airline tickets.

"Imagine how much can be saved if we had our own cardiotherapy centre."

The state government holds a 20 per cent stake in the SMC.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

PEKING LAUNDRY

kena taggie by encik eri, so 'ere goes...

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle mode.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song’s name down NO MATTER HOW SILLY it sounds.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song’s name.
5. Put this on your journal/blog.

1. If someone says, “Is this okay?”… you say?
Once - Dealova (maybe, haha)

2. How would you describe yourself?
David Archuleta - Crush (haha, maybe)

3. What do you like in a girl?
Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas (sounds nice!)

4. How do you feel today?
Eve 6 - Here's to the night (yea man)

5. What is your life’s purpose?
Sawano Hiroyuki - Gigantic Formula Main Theme (inspiring, nice)

6. What is your motto?
Everclear - Heartspark Dollarsign (yup, betol2)

7. What do your friends think of you?
Billy Gilman - Angels we have heard on high (^_^)

8. What do you think of your parents?
Dewi 19 - Dewi (love smiley from spark)

9. What do you think about very often?
Brian Tyler - Rambo 4 Theme (haah, betol2...prophetic lol)

10. What is 2 + 2?
Sum41 - Pieces (eh, betol lar)

11. What do you think of your best friend?
Tiesto - Club Life 099 (not really...)

12. What do you think of the person you like?
Velvet Revolver - Slither (f**k yea!)

13. What is your life story?
Dewa 19 - Cinta tertinggal di Malaysia (haah, rite2)

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Mr Big - Shine (luv smiley from spark)

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
HSM2 OST - Gotta go my own way (sad smiley from spark)

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
Fuel - Bad Day (maybe, haha)

17. What will they play at your funeral?
Sawana Horoyuki - Senkou, Gigantic Formula (excellent score)

18. What is your hobby/interest?
Dewa 19 - Selimut Hati (no komen)

19. What is your biggest fear?
KRU - Untukmu (Feminin cover) (maybe...)

20. What is your biggest secret?
Cake - I will Survive (haah, betol2)

21. What do you think of your friends?
Halim Yazid - Anak Tupai (x semestinya)

22. What will you post this as?
Peking Laundry - Don't turn away (strange title but okie)

menarik jugak ni, lol!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Intentionally misleading?

An example of why Malaysian newspapers shouldn't be relied upon for a good source of information:

This came out in the Berita Mutakhir section of the Berita Harian website today,

"9 askar Australia maut di Afghanistan"

CANBERRA: Ketua Pertahanan Udara Australia, Marshal Angus Houston mengesahkan sembilan askar negara itu maut dalam satu pertempuran dengan puak Taliban, hari ini.
[+] 09:07 AM

link

this is what it is written as;

CANBERRA: Ketua Pertahanan Udara Australia, Marshal Angus Houston mengesahkan sembilan askar negara itu maut dalam satu pertempuran dengan puak Taliban, hari ini.

Beliau berkata, askar itu terbunuh dalam pertempuran sengit dengan 20 Taliban di Wilayah Uruzgan.

Nama askar berkenaan tidak diumumkan.

Australia mempunyai kira-kira 1,000 askar di Afghanistan dan kejadian terakhir membabitkan askarnya terbunuh pada Januari lalu. - AFP


Thing is, this is what actually happened:

"Ninth Australian soldier dies in Afghanistan"

"Taliban insurgents have ambushed and killed an Australian soldier, the ninth to die on operations in the strife-torn country."

source


World of a difference in meaning now, eh? Considering the readership of BH comprise of a particular majority race in the country, is it possibly intentional?

'More of the heathen unbelievers bite the dust in the glorious struggle to free our lands';
or so someone in particular wants us to believe, or lead to believe. Hmm...

Which is why as i say & continually say, i quote one of my favourite sayings

"Perception of reality is more important than reality itself"

Nuff said.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

new link

Haven't updated in a while.

No, i haven't been bought by be-end yet. Just...uninspired.

Won't be reviewing any run of the mill film from now on. Just those which standout.

Speaking of which, Doubt was awesome. Cast was deserving of Oscar nominations and should have won at least one, Streep especially. Powerful performance, watch it if you can.

Have linked to Product of The System's blog. Well worth a read on the dejected and truly shocking state of affairs in healthcare in my home state of Sabah. My heart goes out to the poor souls who had been under the knife of those foreign doctor Mengels.

I shall do my upmost to speak up for my fellow Sabahan, thanks doc for the encouragement.