Day 6 – Communicable & Non-communicable Diseases Control

We’re torn today! We had spent the whole day long in the district health office listened to unstoppable talks by few officers, or perhaps it’s because of Kedah’s exclusive “Sunday Blue”.

As usual, we started the day by reporting ourselves to the district health office at eight. But all it’s been is sleazy platitude, as PPKPK Mohd Zin was on leave ; PPKP Haji Yaakob bin Ismail will only be free in the afternoon for TB, HIV, Leprosy talk ; PPKP Faizal bin Sidek who was going to talk about food and water borne communicable diseases will be available at nine. Sigh~ What can we do? Self study!

At nine, PPKP Faizal bin Sidek started his topic on food and water borne communicable diseases(27 of them). The scope were disease surveillance system(computerized), vaccines and immunization available, programmes organized by MOH(done by Unit Promosi Kesihatan), notification methods(phone/form/IE system), control programmes, job responsibilities and infrastructure as well as the strategies for epidemic investigation. He shared a lot of his experiences with us.

After that, a chinese pharmacist, Miss Tan was asked to give us a brief discussion on Methadone Maintenance Therapy(MMT). All in all, she mentioned that Methadone is a potent narcotic analgesic, which able to demolish the euphoric effect of heroin and with lesser withdrawal symptoms. MMT was done by DOT regime(Direct Observation Therapy). The drug abuser will be giving a syrup, with the initial dose of 15-30mg/day, slowly tapered up to a maintenance dose of 60-80mg/day. The methadone supply was from hospital. It was great as it’s safe to be consumed by maternal and the cost is low.Thus far, the best MTT centre was in Tampines, Negeri Sembilan.

Twelve in the noon, the only thing in our mind was LUNCH! Since it’s 2 and the half hours apart from the next session with PPKP Haji Yaakob bin Ismail, we had decided to go all the way to Alor Setar, for food hunting and “window car-ing”!

 

Comment on Alor Setar? Sg Petani better!

We were back in Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah Padang Terap at 2.15pm. While waiting for Tuan Haji Yaakob, we just walked around and looked at the notice board.

We spent the whole afternoon with PPKP Haji Yaakob on HIV, Leprosy and TB. He showed us a lot of forms, guidelines on HIV & TB cases, etc. As usual, there were Q&A session before he took off.

XoXo,

Padang Terap Group

Day 5 – Food Quality Control

Finally, we’ve reached the halve of DHO posting. All I could say – time flies. The morning sun seems to be more blazing than ever, as we’ll be able to get back to our lovely hostel in the evening! Cheers~

As the initial plan was to attend KPAS posting today, but the person in charge was in emergency operation, thus PPKPK Mohd Zin Mohd Yasan arranged us into Food Quality Control posting.

We were lucky as there were operation today known as OKSS VII for PKD Padang Terap.

5 teams from PKD Langkawi, PKD Pendang, PKD Kota Star, PKD Yan, and PKD Kubang Pasu joined this operation known as Operasi Kedah Sihat Sejahtera(OKSS) VII. Besides, this operation gained cooperation from Majlis Daerah Padang Terap & Polis Di Raja Malaysia as well. The main objective was to enforce and empower Akta Makanan 1983, Akta Pemusnahan Serangga Pembawa Penyakit 1975 and Peraturan-peraturan Kawalan Hasil Tembakau 2004.

We were not allowed to follow the operation in the beginning as it involved court matters. However, Dr. Aishah discussed with PPKPK Mohd Zin, PPKP Pergas a/l Retnam, PPKP Mohd Shukri Bin Hussin, and came out with a twisted result. Thanks to Dr. Aishah for helping us. Then, we went into the discussion room, and everyone sitting there were PPKPK and PPKP from other districts. The serious and formal atmosphere chilled us.

After the discussion, we were warned to stay away when the operation took place to avoid ourselves from court matters. No discussion, No comment, No camera! That’s what we’ve been told!

After that, we followed their cars from behind to the planned destination. We’ve observed that all the officers were holding a map, which marked all restaurants and hawker stalls they were going to check. However, many restaurants and hawker stalls were closed. Why? hehe… Think about it yourself! You know, I know!

Finally, there was a restaurant opened at the roadside. Honestly, the condition was so bad, the brick wall was not painted, no proper kitchen, sandy floor, full of flies, etc. We were told to stay away while the operation took place, so we just stand beside the restaurant while observe the whole process. After 15 minutes, the officer came to us and explain what they had done just now. There was an evaluation form for them to tick and comment. The evaluation included various perspectives, environment, food handling, water supply, sewage system, etc. If the marks lower than 75%, then it will be closed for 2 weeks, for the owner to improve the condition and reopen after permission gained from the authority. They will be fine as well. While the officer was explaining to us, the others were photographing the restaurants.

Then, we went to another restaurant at Kota Star. It was a bigger restaurant. Not much problem was there. But they’ve been given a warning notice for advertising a coffee dealer – RADIX. After that, we back to PKD Padang Terap, and listened to their report for the operation.

Here’s the review of the whole OKSS VII :

AM1983 - 34 premises checked, 29 restaurants closed, spot check gained RM1132.40, 8 samples taken.

APSPP 1975 – 16 premises checked, 8 compounds, 7 notices

PKHT 2004 – 5 compound worth RM1500

Lastly, the most important event of the day……HOME!!!

XoXo,

Padang Terap Group

Day 4 – Maternal and Child Health III

Most of the time, thing will get bored and comes to an end when it reaches the lucky number three, for instance High School Musical & The Matrix. However, there’s always an exception just like the upcoming iPhone 4! Today was the last day for MCH posting, yet it was the most interesting day as we went to visit Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti(PDK) Kuala Nerang.

 

Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti(PDK) Kuala Nerang was previously known as Pusat Pembangunan Kanak-kanak Cacat Kuala Nerang. It was officially opened on 21 February 1993 in a rent house but moved to current location on 17 October 1999.

We were welcomed ardently by the Chief Executive of PDK Kuala Nerang, Tuan Haji Bahadun Bin Rashid(AMK, PPN, PJK) & Supervisor of PDK Kuala Nerang, Pn. Siti Mariam Bt Muhamad. Then, they gave us a brief introduction about PDK, the aims, specifications, advantages, activities organized, budget allocation, facilities and services available, etc.

Not in so many words, PDK was established as a measurement to involve actively parents, families, as well as the whole community to help Orang Kurang Upaya(OKU) to stay and live like a normal person. There were various activities running everyday to train gross motor(Kemahiran Motor Kasar), fine motor(Kemahiran Motor Halus), social & language(Perkembangan social & bahasa) by 3M, self-care(pengurusan diri), pre-school education(pra school) & creativity(Kreativiti). Those activities were conducted by five experienced teachers. Besides fund from government(JPD), they also got a lot of sponsor from private sector. Just a month ago, they got sponsor from Kementerian Pelancongan Pulau Langkawi for a trip to Pulau Langkawi. Currently, there were 54 children in the center. Then, we had a Q&A session with Tuan Haji Bahadun and Pn. Siti Mariam. We also bought the children some biscuits and jelly.

 

We were served with biscuits and milo while waiting for the children to arrive. Then, one of the teacher, Noryati showed us the facilities available in the center.

 

 

 

       

 

Starting from 10am, the children with parents started to reach one by one as PDK will pass the allowance to them today.   

 

Alfred with the children suffered from Edward’s Syndrome.

Ryan with the Down’s syndrome child. Others include Hyperactive, Cerebral Palsy.

Before left, we took photos with all PDK Kuala Nerang staffs and bought two handcrafts made by the children as our support to them.

When God closes a door, He opens a play where all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Yes, they’ve born to be a special child in this world, and their life is going up in flame when the time goes by. However, when you’re willing to spend a few seconds and take a look at them, their teary eyes, the innocent smile, you will actually found out they are the angels, with platonic heart, seeking for the heartest and kind person. All they need is just someone to hold their hand a little, lead them the way to live like us. Thus, appreciate your bountiful life and share with the one who needs.

XoXo,

Padang Terap Group     

Day 3 – Maternal and Child Health II

Springtime – a season for rebirth and new beginnings. For some, it’s a chance to turn over a new leaf; for others, it’s a surprise of seeing something bloom. But for yours truly, it’s a reminder that on reality, everything old can be new again. Just like handling of food, we might doing it repeatedly everyday, but you will never know if you’ve done it right or wrong!

This morning, we went to Klinik Kesihatan Kuala Nerang as usual and was planned to visit the school for vaccine injection. Unfortunately, there were changed of plan due to some issue and eventually Sister Faridah decided to talk about food handling, as the antenatal clinic was opened today, and they had prepared the teaching in Bilik Demo Masakan for mothers. Besides, we also went into the clinic, 2 person in one time, to observe and perform antenatal clinical examination in front of the Doctor.  

 

We’ve learnt a lot such as how to choose fresh vegetables, fruits & fishes ; what’s the proper way of cleaning and cooking without excessive lost of nutrients and etc. It sounded like, well, that’s just the icing on the cake. But, try to rack your brain a little, we were still too new on the scene, and not top shelf all the way. There are still lots for us to learn from nurses before we can have the world on a string and give advice to our patient on nutrition and how to handle the food properly. I believe in the coming days, it will be hard to snare some wunderkind like Sister Faridah on conveying such talk.

After that, we had discussion regarding vaccine and immunisation with Sister, mainly about HPV vaccine and H1N1 vaccine. According to Sister, HPV vaccine will be available in Kuala Nerang within this month, and injection will be free of charge for all Form 1 student or 13 years old for non-schooling adolescent. It’s not a compulsory vaccination, consent by parents/guardian needed prior to injection.

Next, we went to the Makmal(laboratory). That’s the most interesting part of the day as all of us were allowed to do Rapid HIV Test among ourselves. Fortunately, all of us were HIV negative!

  

The lab personnel was explaining how to operate the haemogram device for antenatal blood test.

Sister was demonstrating how to collect blood from baby’s heel for serum bilirubin level by using micro haematocrit tube.

 

   

We were practicing the way to use micro haematocrit tube and then the collected samples were centrifuged to separate the serum and haematocrit. Finally, inserted the micro haematocrit tube into the cartridge, where two “windows” were serum, and analysed it to obtain serum bilirubin level.

Next, Sister showed us the kit to test for HIV, known as Rapid HIV Test Kit. We were lucky that the sister allowed us to perform it for our colleagues. The kit came with an indicator, pipette, lancet, alcohol prep pad & dilution. There were 4 alphabets on the indicator, C=control ; T=test ; S=sample ; D=dilution.

 

Since first day, everyday seems to be a new day to us. Honestly, you missed a lot when you were gone!

XoXo,

Padang Terap Group