We are far from having anything definitive in medicines and medical treatments

Having been ingrained with 'must finish full course' for years, now we are told this.

Advice to finish antibiotics is ‘incorrect’, say British scientists

BRITISH disease experts today suggested doing away with the "incorrect" advice to always finish a course of antibiotics, saying the approach was fuelling the spread of drug resistance.

Rather than stopping antibiotics too early, the cause of resistance was "unnecessary" drug use, a team wrote in The BMJ medical journal.

"We encourage policymakers, educators and doctors to stop advocating 'complete the course' when communicating with the public," wrote the team, led by infectious diseases expert Martin Llewelyn of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

"Further, they should publicly and actively state that this was not evidence-based and is incorrect."

Rest of article: https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/8766/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=the+malaysian+insight

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Cheng Boon Ong: Mygration Story: Postcolonial musings from Asia to Europe

United Nations University (UNU-MERIT):

"Our ‘Mygration Story’ series tracks the family histories of staff and fellows at UNU. The aim is to show that many of us owe our lives and careers to the courage of migrant ancestors. People who left their homes to build safer or better lives — for themselves and for their children. With this monthly series we want to show that migration is not an historical aberration, but a surprisingly common element in family histories worldwide."

"It’s difficult to be wholeheartedly critical of colonialism when one’s family history is so closely intertwined with it. My great-grandparents joined the historical wave of Chinese labour emigration of the late 19th and early 20thcentury to what was then British Malaya. My home city of Batu Gajah was a boom town for tin mining, and for decades a colonial district capital with a courthouse, hospital and horse racing track. Both my parents were born before the country’s independence, schooled in the English language, and ultimately met while studying in England in the early 1970s. (And even today, Malaysians make up one of the largest international student communities in the UK.)"


"About the Author
Cheng is an affiliated researcher at UNU-MERIT, and holds a PhD in Public Policy and Policy Analysis from Maastricht University. Currently, she is a humanitarian assessment officer for Yemen at REACH, a joint initiative of two international NGOs (ACTED and IMPACT) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT)."
More: http://www.merit.unu.edu/mygration-story-postcolonial-musings-from-asia-to-europe/
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HEALTHCARE OR NIGHTMARE: S'PORE LADY SHOCKED AT MILLION DOLLAR HOSPITAL BILL AFTER MUM'S CANCER BATTLE

HEALTHCARE OR NIGHTMARE: S'PORE LADY SHOCKED AT MILLION DOLLAR HOSPITAL BILL AFTER MUM'S CANCER BATTLE

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End of the road for some cancer patients seeking treatment in government hospitals?

My last visit to SOPD was devastating when I was referred to Palliative Care Unit. All along, I had the impression PCU is like death row, with patients waiting to die, but given medication to alleviate suffering. Sure enough, I was told I could be given morphine (only available in GH) if the pain becomes unbearable. In the process of registration, the question on my religion adds to the morbidity of reference to the eventuality. When I said I was expecting cure, it seemed out of place in PCU, with other patients and even doctors looking at me, as if with disbelief!

Slowly, but surely, the reality of GH's limitations and constraints sets in. The reason why my previous visit to oncologist in HKL did not result in prescriptions became clear when I learned that budget cuts had resulted in quotas which were quickly filled. Now even government pensioners have to pay for drugs, which I presume, relate to those expensive cancer ones, for starters.

In other words, for those who cannot afford exorbitant charges of private medical centres, it is practically end of the road, unless there are options in alternate cures. There are so many in the market that it can be confusing. Each supplier will swear by his or her products. Each of us has only one life, so the question of testing any one product could be fatal, if proven ineffective, without timely medical attention.

Meanwhile, I will have to remain positive (B+ happens to be my blood type) while I wait to see oncologist with my latest PET Scan report.


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There are many ways to fight a battle

Lately, we have witnessed the sabre-rattling stance between North Korea and USA. The threat of nuclear war is alarming and cannot be discounted.

China has been spreading its economic power in Africa and elsewhere where there is an urgent need, which effectively gain itself friendship as well as immense influence in the process. Its special interest in South China Sea has seen the building of military bases within, with total disregard of international verdict at The Hague. Besides, it is investing heavily in Malaysia which many believe it can gain undue political influence from Malaysian leaders.

But how many of us have ever thought of using education as a weapon of destruction?

A University professor wrote an expressive message to his students at the doctorate, masters and bachelors levels and placed it at the entrance in a university in South Africa. 

And this is the message:

*"Collapsing any nation does not require use of atomic bombs or the use of long range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students".*

The patient dies in the hands of such doctors

And the buildings collapse in the hands of such engineers

And the money is lost in the hands of such accountants

And humanity dies in the hands of such religious scholars

And justice is lost in the hands of such judges...

*"The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation"*

Malaysia has all along shy away from meritocracy in education, unlike Singapore. The latter gained from the brain drain of Malaysians unappreciated locally, and prospered to become one of the most advanced and richest nation in the world.

Through its own lack of foresight or nationalistic reasons, the level of education dropped drastically since it gained independence in 1957. Will we see the collapse of Malaysia in the long term because of this? Collapse seems too strong a term, but in comparison, the glaring success of Singapore which has nothing but human resources, and that also depended partially on foreign input, would put Malaysia which has natural resources to shame.


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