compulsory government service for 2 years. the rules in malaysia is as such.

i had thought about doing psychiatry (mental illness) as a post graduate course since many years ago as i am interested in human thinking and behaviour but now that i have been to the psychiatric ward and seen the patients, i have lost a lot of interest. i find the patients very aggressive/violent and i do not feel safe in their presence.

so now i think i would just start working after my studies without doing any specialist course. a general practitioner can also make lots of money, especially so if you have your own clinic.

i may open my own clinic one day but i find that i am more interested to set up a restaurant business or cybercafe. i do not want to remain in the medical line for too long.

i find the course at times challenging, especially when it comes to exams. but sometimes i get a lot of time to relax us students are not supervised most of the time when we are supposed to go to the wards. during these times, i would go home and sleep.

i do enjoy seeing patients once in a while as i get a lot of respect from the patients. here in malaysia, people look up to doctors in awe and admiration.

i think to be a good doctor, one must have good communication skills and it helps to be caring. a lot of times, patients are not aware of the diagnosis of their illness and do not know the course of actions that the doctors want to take for the patient's treatment. nearly all of the time, they are left in the dark about their medications. i feel that counselling and educating the patient goes a long way in the case  management. medicine in malaysia has a long way to go i guess.