Stop this Amalina a failure nonsense

Malice is in the air when people simply defame Nur Amalina Che Bakri, claiming that she failed her Medicine in the University of Edinburgh.

I see a green eyed monster behind all this.

The facts:

POint Blank: She did not fail Medicine.

She is taking the Intercalated Bachelors of Medical Sciences in Pharmacology with Industrial Experience. This is not a separate degree that needed withdrawal from Medicine. It's a kind of gap year exceptionally bright students are offered to take. An extra degree in 1 year.

That implies a double degree in 1 extra year. And that also implies being imparted with skills that are not covered in the core Medicine syllabus. Skills such as research and in her case Deeper or Higher Pharmacology.

The blogger who first insinuated this nonsense should be the one checking whether he or she has failed anything, incluing researching and thinking skills. Don't comment on anything you have not researched on.

A top Edinburgh Medicine Scholar being labelled a failed Medical student.

Now that is some f**ked-up reasoning.

And to think that it may be a skin colour sterotype induced thing....

That makes it even more f****d up.

Can YOu HeLp me FInd my LoSt See-Harm?

An experimental arts project by Awaang KOlo

Coming Soon

The Charter of Compassion

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

I, Kong Chia Yew, affirm this Charter.

I have always tried to be compassionate in my doings. I live by the principle 'better I suffer than the others'. On public transport I will always stand, less the train gets packed and there are no more seats. I always fetch people, not mutually exclusive to friends, to places that they may need to go without question. I have always not stood for the discrimination of the weak and continually try to act kindly to every person, no matter whether he or she has illed against me or has been a god-sent to me. I hold no grudge and show no anger, as it is not this weakness of humans that I want to portray and propagate. I will strive and work harder towards doing good without expecting or wanting redemption. I will try to phase out anger and frustration and replace them with calm and acceptance, looking towards and not disregarding the ultimate aim of detachment, unboundless compassion and unwant for material things.

I will do whatever good I can now, for in retrospect of Associate Professor Bulathduwage Joseph Joachim Francisco Perera's reqoute of an anonymous quotation, for I pass this Earth and time only once. Let me not procrastinate and say I can wait. For doing good is never about oneself but it is for others.

I will not fall into the trappings of a distorted view of Buddhism that whatever good I contemplate on doing, I do it on the basis of diluting unwholesome past actions and reaping good deeds. Compassion transcends this distorted principle, which in fact is not Buddhistic in nature at all.

Let my strive for compassion not be weathered by the cultural conditioning in my society. Let me not forget or brush compassion aside because my family, my friends, my acquaintances or my community tells me to.

Let me not practise compassion in hope for recognition and societal approval. Let it be for the nourishment of my inner self. Let it be for the joy of others.

Let me not be jaded by the fatigue that comapssion sometimes entails. let me instead be inspired to carry on.

Let me not collapse and say I've had enough for suffering is endless and no amount of compassion is ever sufficient or enough.

Let this affirmation not be rhetoric or cosmetic.

May I always feel compelled and forced to take the road of compassion.

Cauliflower Lungs and Gingeric Intestines

"Vegetables are all your body needs"

from The International Vegetarian Union

Aurora Oculi

Medical seniors can be rather interesting. This is because we medical students all have an air about us.

To this day, we who claim ourselves enlightened still swear by the notion that in a university, we can pick out which are medical students and which are not. The non-medical students, IMU's muggles for example, are more, blonde, if you are savvy with the notorious reputation blondies have. This being said by a fellow medical student, mind you. Don't prosecute me.

Contact with senior colleagues from the National University of Malaysia UKM, has been fascinating, as earlier revealed. It is nice especially to meet the bordering on overzealous ones. The ones that overchant critical thinking and cannot bear, even if their life depended on it, to utter a single dollop of nonsense. Those who chant medical euphemisms like "Doctors do everything for a reason and we will never do unnecessary things"

These are the interesting senior colleagues that i have encountered, the ones that have their souls pawned to the Two Lords Medicine and Surgery.

There are also those who bear the distinct mark of servantship to these two lords, what I coin the Aurora Oculi or Lights of the Eye. It is actually quite misnomeric in the sense that lights do not emit themselves in the eyes of the Marked. Rather it is a distinct Black Ring. It's just that I am too lazy to look up what Black Ring is in latin.

I have seen many Marked Men.

Marked Men differ quite a lot from lay muggles by for example the washing of hands. Marked men like us use 6-7 distinct steps to wash our hands spending roughly 30seconds on what is usually done for 10 seconds.

Marked men speak in tongues. Headaches are not just stress induced but may sometimes be caused by the incapacity of the sella turcica to accomodate the hypophysis. Two of the 6-7 steps in handwashing must account for removing dirty elements from the palmar and dorsal surfaces. The aetiology of Arrythmias are most probably ectopic foci. Cones are most abundant in the fovea centralis which is central most in the macula lutea which lies lateral to the optic disk. Marked men speak dirty words.

Doctor Patient Communication

1. Read the article, “Key Communication Skills and How to Acquire them” (McGuire & Pitceathly, 2002) – see website reference below. 2. Apply the knowledge obtained from the article to the following scenario – “Mr Ahmad has been diagnosed by you with hypertension and has come to see you for a follow-up visit to discuss his treatment plan”. 3. What considerations do you need to make (1) to ensure that you communicate effectively with Mr Ahmad and (2) promote treatment adherence.

This is my first A grade scored in IMU. Let's hope it is emulated by all other grade-able descendants in IMU.

Key to good management of Mr Ahmad's condition are effective healthcare provider communication skills and treatment adherence.

We should practise certain non verbal cues, such as maintaining sufficient eye contact with Mr Ahmad, lowering our position to his position and comforting him with actions like patting his shoulders. These cues establish a safety net between us and him, to show him that he can be open with us. We should not be patronizing as this will only promote fear and worry.

When performing the medical interview, it is important to ask about his main problems, covering all physical, psychological and social aspects. We can do this by actively listening to him, asking open ended questions to prompt fuller descriptions of problems from him, not interrupting and repeating important details of what he has said, thus acknowledging the patient's problems and being empathetic.

When discussing his problem, we should explain to him the details of his disease in layman terms and how he plays an active role in managing it.

It is important to finally review and ensure his understanding of what was explained.


To promote treatment adherence, it is important to ask Mr Ahmad about any problems that he may have had since his previous visit. We must gauge his beliefs and views and acknowledge that he may have problems with adhering to treatment and changing his lifestyle. We must encourage active questioning and offering of his opinions. We must get him involved in the management plan, and have a mutual agreement on what is feasible and what is not. The key is to form a doctor-patient partnership. We must take care to notice warnings of non adherence in patients such as passivity and blind obedience. It is also worthwhile to get his support system (eg. family) involved in his lifestyle change

Taylor's knows how to appreciate her students

The key to a good university is a healthy respect that is mutual between the student and the university. This allows for liberty and airspace to fly and triumph.

I thank Taylor's for allowing me and my friends to soar. We were featured in the Teamwork and Leadership Panel on Taylor's Open Day.

Other universities, learn from the best.

Sleep Paralysis

The last night was quite amazing because it was the first time I had what is more scientifically called sleep paralysis.

This sleep paralysis is the same experience people report as ghosts sitting on one's chest, feeling a heavy opressive dark force sitting on them such that their whole upper body and sometimes, lower too, is rendered immobile. Popular culutre has it that such heaviness arises from the cheeky actions of a supernatural being who has taken a fancy to sitting on your chest.

it was an amazing experience.

I woke up. I saw my dark ceiling.

I tried to move but to no avail. My arms were not responding. Neither was anything else heeding my urge to move.

It then hit me. This is sleep paralysis and what most likely comes next is some ghoul is going to cross my field of vision and scare the life out of me. Now this is important because I now know that at the time I was fully concious of my environment and could even extrapolate this sensation to references in popular culture

Instinct told me to close my eyes instantly. I did not want to encounter any other-worldly ghouls. And I was even concious enough to think of how I will not be able to ever bring myslef to stay in this room again if such a thing entered my field of vision

But the thing was even that did not heed control. Bast*rd....

So the next thing I did instinctively was to adduct and flex my hands ( medical jargon for a set of actions that would bring my hands to cover my face). I even had proprioreception then, the knowledge of the relative positions of my limbs. I was in crucifix form. body straight and facing upwards, both hands abducted almost at right angles to the trunk of my body.And the sheer force I used. The numbness of the limbs turned into characteristic pins and needles associated with low blood flow to the area.

Pandemonium made its entry.

But no ghouls bothered to make a visit into my field of vision. Thank Heavens. I would have been scarred for life.

Within 15 seconds or so i regained full control. I had the chills and put a blanket over. The sound of motion from next door reassured me that everything was alright.

Sleep paralysis is in fact a medical state. Your body is kept in a state of paralysis so that no actions borne of the mind during dream like states can be acted out.

It is when conciousness or the start of the wakeful cycle does not coincide perfectly with the halting of paralysis control on the body, that this happens.

The panic, trauma and cultural conditioning may all create the pathology of hallucinating and allowing the eyes to see other worldly creatures to come to terms with the heaviness that one feels in these states.

The surgeon speaks

The very first time I met Dr Kim K Tan, he was rushing to surgery.

"Ahhh... This is Chia Yew..." he said to his nurses, in his superb accent.

"I am rushing to surgery"

and so both of us got caught in the lift. I had to rush to lessons in IMU and he had to rush for surgery.

The first noticeable generic surgeon behaviour I saw was in that lift. Two nurses were entering the lift at a lower floor on our way down. One went in and kept the doors open while another hesitated to enter ( she must have wanted to do something else)

"Cepat!.... Cepat!...." said Dr Kim exasperatedly to the nurse gesturing towards his watch. Surgeons are walking alarm clocks. Their time is the most expensive of all. It was a few seconds hesitation but he wouldhave none of it.

"I will see you tomorrow Dr Kim Tan"

"Yes and I will give you a call when I get there"

Shift scene to Wednesday.

After a horribly dry lecture on Paediatrics, (i had no control of this as it was IMU- organised. They wanted to put the paediatrician-alumni talk before the surgeon's talk),

A call came.

Private Number.

"Chia Yew, I am at the lobby and the guard here is threatening to not let me in!"

"Ok sorry, Dr Kim I will be right there"

I bring Dr Kim to the venue. And he took the room just like that. His voice grabbed everyone's attention and his slides also were designed to not only touch the brain but the heart.

He was excellent, articulate and charismatic.

His hands are in a default semi-flexed bilateral supinated manner, another generic surgeon behaviour. Pants elevated, and shirt all shifted backwards/dorsally. Posture slanted but strong. And the characteristic air about surgeons when they talk. Everyone shuts up. Everyone fixes both eyes and mind at him.

And he brought up something very strong. the concept of cleft lip and palate not bwing cosmetic, about how the psychosocial issues and problem with speech and hearing come in. Self esteem.

When promoting the event, I and Shahd faced a lot of problems about the lopsided views that plague plastic surgery. They think its all about breasts augmentation and smoothing those wrinkles. I was no less guilty of that view as well. And I expressed this to Dr Kim Tan. These perception of the surgical specialty. I told him that I have now renewed faith and respect in this specialty.

I realised and shared with him how the reconstructive part of plastic surgery never does get the limelight. These surgeons repair faces and self esteem, they treat crushed faces, burnt skin. The word plastic is indeed a misnomer in the sense that what these surgeons practise are always far from plastic.

The way Dr Kim Tan animated his slides with the children who were once defaced by cleft lip and palate grew to e beautiful people, no more bearing the mark of a genetic error. These people do not only gain aesthetics but they regain life.

What drew you to surgery?

Dr Kim Tan said practically the same thing all surgeons have said, He revels in the fact that it is one of the most logical in the broad area of medicine. You see something wrong, you cut it, its solved. You don't have to be like a physician who has to diagnose and think of an action plan. then you prescrie medicine and then asks the person to come back. Are you really capable of doing something as a physician. We have the skills of hour hands, our dexterity. These hands do something. I don't want to be a physician who waits for grass to grow. There and then after my surgery, smething has been done and corrected. Let the smart ones do medicine. We are the mechanics.

On his epiphany.

He had it in his Medical Officer years. he realised that he could change lives with his hand skills. he noticed he could do things with his hands and he then realised I can reattach a finger back rather than throw it away.

On Women in Surgery

Most of them are unmarried. Because you will need to seek your priorities. Career or family. Surgeons spend a lot of time training. If you want family, better go for a 9-5 job.

On Cosmetics

You think that it is not beneficial and necessary since its not medically useful. But you will come and see me at 60.

On Perfection

Perfection is the Surgeon's Enemy. We can never be perfect. Only Him is perfect. Points up. We can strive to be almost perfect.

On 100%

In surgery it must be 100% successful. If it less than it is a failure to the patient. It is not alright to lose focus in surgery

On how good you need to be in surgery

good surgeons are those that can tie their shoe laces with 1 hand. If you cant tie shoe laces with two hands, then dont do surgery.

This was a surgeon that caught our imagination and lit a flame of passion. We were seriously high after that. There were my batchmates who went up to him personally and thanked him from the heart for such a good talk. He was in fact I think much more charismatic than Mahathir.

And of course you know how good he really was when the attendees all came up to me asking Where I found him and thanked me for bringing him to speak.

That really makes my day, knowing that I had helped changed perception.

Thank you Dr Kim K Tan