owh mak cik , what have u done!

one of the challenge working as a doctor  ;
is dealing with patient who believe hospital is the last resort

many patients, mostly the malay ethnic
more commonly in kelantan
prefer to seek treatment from bomoh whenever they fall sick
or something happened to their body

case and point happened to me at the clinic today

a makcik brought her 4 month old baby
with impetigo , and infected wound all over the body
something like the photo above

me : mak cik , when does it started to become like this?
mak cik ; eh.... baru saje.... semalam baru makcik perasan..
me : mak cik , please dont lie to me , i am a doctor.. i know what i see
mak cik : dah lama dah sebenarnya... dah dekat sebulan... mula sket jer.. pastu makin teruk

me : then , why dont u come to the doctor earlier? x kesian kat anak u ke dah jadi mcm ni...
mak cik : mak cik pergi jumpe bomoh... bomoh kasi air tawar... lepas seminggu 2 makin teruk baru mak cik bawak datang sini...
me : kesian anak mak cik ni... dah teruk sgt. .. dah kene jumpe pakar kulit...  x tau bole pulih ke x nanti ...
mak cik ; tu la mak cik bawak dtg sini nak ambik ubat la...
me : apsal mak cik x pergi follow up dengan bomoh jer? bomoh pakar xde ke?

well, this is the attitude of our people
still believe in bomoh
still believe that bad health caused by the black spirit
for crying out loud

please come to the doctor first,
then if we cannot treat u ...
then go find ur bomoh
not otherwise

the best part of this cases..
when these people come to the doctors at the terminal stage of the disease
some of them , died at the hospital
then these people started to blame doctors for their relative ill fated.
ridiculous indeed!