IMU CLINICAL SCHOOL VISIT

Went to Seremban last Saturday for the IMU Clinical School visit. Whoa, the campus really is situated in a ulu place man! It's rite, right in the middle of a kampung! But man, I really love the open air design of the building! It's really small compared to its Bukit Jalil partner, espeacially the library, which is really disappointing... But somehow, I kinda like it after we have our tour around the place by a very helpful senior, Ng Kheng. Maybe it's the greenery surrounding the whole campus and within in... I really dislike the white cement surroundings in the Bukit Jalil campus. Yeah, it's warm there, but at least the air is natural, not pumped in by some air-cond.

Nevertheless, after a nice long chat with another senior, Joshua, about life in the partner campus, I can't help but feel... attracted to that kind of life. It's probably dull to many ppl, but I find it very... fulfilling. Perhaps medicine truly is my calling after all! Unlike many of my peers, I'm not disillusioned about the hardship I will face for the coming years. I've talked to many ppl, doctors and senior medical students, and I have quite a realistic view of the costs of being a doctor (lack of sleep, stress, harsh treatment from senior doctors, uncooperative patients, on-call duties late at night, and tons of studies). Yet this is the life I have chosen to attain, for I do have this unexplained passion to help the people. Helping others has always been one of my basis for joy, and I know that I'll find contentment and satisfaction in my job...

...But how long will it lasts? My uncle, now a specialist and a consultant, has admitted that though once he was motivated by the need to help others, money comes 1st to him now... So will I lose this...idealism, this enthusiasm I'm having now, say, in 20, 30 years time? Would I become a "bloodsucking" doctor, as Ng Kheng has mercilessly puts it? Or will I carry this passion to help people to my grave? I certainly do hope so... But will I? Will I?

Then again, I'm still in the very 1st semester of my medical studies, and still have plenty of tests to pass b4 I even become a GP (Ng Kheng ranked the level of a medical student as an unicellular organism, and a GP as an amoeba). So I'll juz focus on my studies now, and try to make it to the Dean's List. Yet I guess I have to frequently question myself why I have chosen medicine as a profession, so that I'll be constantly reminded of why I'm struggling so hard for...

Anyway, we left the campus by 12.30pm... Nv get to visit the hospital though. I kinda feel sad when I left the place, for who knows when will I see it again? And all the helpful and caring seniors that I've met, will we ever meet again? Perhaps we will, when we're working in government hospitals in the future... And I'll be looking forward to that!