DAY 949-962

Apr 8 - 21

1) Where to even begin? So much has happened in the past two weeks that I have had trouble remembering everything that we did. Public Health rotation is honestly my favourite of the three, mainly because we get to go on excursions literally all across the mainland. And also because it is really rather chill, with the health inspectors and environmental officers asking us to have a nice breakfast before we start the day!

2) So the (previous) week kick-started with us (Group B1) finally getting our group photo for medicine rotation. We had wanted to take it at the end of the medicine rotation rather than at the beginning of public health, but because some of us forgot to bring our lab coats it had to be postponed. Really happy to have been part of such a fantastic and friendly team! Anyways, the next event was the Medicine Quiz organised by PALS (Peers Assisted Learning Society). We were a last-minute scratch team consisting of two RCSI students (Zi Yan and myself) and two UCD students (Su Wei and Sim) - maintaining that yin and yang balance haha. Anyway, we finished Top 5 without preparing - an achievement! Many congratulations to Team Grey Matter for clinching first!

3) After the quiz, I went out with Esther, Melvin, and Melissa, to meet Melissa's parents and relatives. We went for a nice outing at the night stalls near Gurney. It was a lively night out, but by the time I got back, I was so exhausted and slept through the morning! Luckily I had the good sense to set the alarm beforehand... Our main Public Health Posting is in Klinik Kesihatan Seberang Perai Tengah (or Seberang Perai Tengah Health Clinic). Mr. Tan, a certified food handler trainer and ex-health officer, is in charge of us for the duration of our posting. The first thing he did when we met him was to ask us to follow him for breakfast at a mamak stall. Throughout the postings, he has been really passionate about showing us the various departments in public health, and even went as far as to bring us to two food factories - just so we could learn more about food safety and quality!

4) So far during the posting, we've attended vector control - basically knocking on the doors of residents of high-risk areas to inspect their premises for signs of mosquito larvae - specially Aedes larvae - which are responsible for the transmission of dengue fever. Also, we've made a trip to the Botanical Gardens, where we got the chance to see the environmental control of malaria. These include stone packing methods, automated drum/siphon sluices, agitation wells, subsoil drainage, and larviciding. Besides, we've been to Indah Water Konsortium - the national sewage company in Malaysia. It was really interesting to see how waste water is harvested in large batches - called SBR (sequencing batch reactors) - to form effluent ("clean" water to be released to the sea) and sewage sludge - which is then concentrated further before being deposited in landfills or recycled as fertiliser.

5) Last week, Prof Richard had a special invitation for all of us - a career talk by the RCSI Class of 1991 - his graduating batch! It was really interesting and inspiring to see the brilliant surgeons, specialists, and doctors give insight into their various paths, as well as motivate us students to not give up and keep trying. In the span of these two weeks, we also celebrated not one but two birthdays - Melvin's and Melissa's! We had a fun time surprising each and subsequently going out together for dinner with them. Finally, our latest public health excursion was to the health complex in Butterworth, specifically the Food Quality Lab - which we went to last Wednesday. We saw the various machines and tools that they used for chemical analysis of food samples - mostly resembling a medicinal chemistry lab. Then, we proceeded to Guang Ren Leisure Home, where we learnt more about environmental health.

6) It has been a very productive two weeks (not to mention tiring!), and I learnt so much about how our healthcare system works on a large scale. We have another two weeks of posting to go, and then we will have our end-of-semester exams for Public Health (worth 50%) and Medicine (worth 10% if I'm not mistaken). That is it for this edition of my blog, thanks very much for tuning in, and have a lovely week (or should I say two weeks) ahead. Cheers! :D

Group B1 Medicine Rotation:

l-r: Amirah, Ray, Mahitha, Myself, Esther, Varin, Hajar, Luqman, Ruth, Edward, Helmi

I couldn't have asked for better teammates - thanks so much for the experience!

Myself, Su Wei, Zi Yan, and Sim - URMC buddies!

PALS Medicine Quiz Night :)

The bond of RCSI and UCD students is one that cannot be broken...

Really nice meeting Melissa's family for a late supper :)

 

Lunch with Denise at Coffee Elements - really nice deal at only RM9.90!

Starbucks cuz were feeling like a million bucks XD

 

First day of Public Health posting -

Klinik Kesihatan Seberang Perai Tengah (Seberang Perai Tengah Health Clinic)

Mr. Tan brought us to Restaurant Nasmir for a nice hearty breakfast - 

before our first session with Aedes vector control

 

KFC's loaded potato bowl for lunch - right after our first day of Public Health posting

Klinik Kesihatan Jalan Perak (Perak Road Health Clinic)

for our visit to the Vector Lab - where they perform BFMP (blood film for malaria parasites)

Photobombed by Helmi and Esther :))

 Visit to the Penang Botanic Gardens

(specifically to see the various methods for environmental control of Malaria vectors)

A friendly monkey by the road...

l-r: Automatic siphon sluice, agitation wells, and anti-malaria public baths

Even more methods of vector control

(it was raining heavily here which made it difficult to take nice pics :p)

Inspection chamber where pipes are inserted to ensure no stasis of water flow

(which could provide a suitable environment for Anopheles mosquito to breed)

It was raining rather heavily here

An automatic siphon sluice

When the tank is full, the siphon sluice basically acts like a huge flushing system by pumping (siphoning) water downstream. This has the effect of carrying away all mosquito larvae on the water surface, as well as agitating the water enough to prevent oviposition of potential mosquito vectors - yet another way for mosquito control

The siphon sluice in action!

(the pic was taken towards the end after it had lost most of its strength XD)

A beautiful pond right in the middle of the Botanic Gardens - unfortunately also a huge potential breeding ground for certain types of mosquitoes - particularly the Culex genus (responsible for Japanese Encephalitis B and lymphatic filariasis)

What a beautiful sight to behold!

(taken at the entrance to the Penang Botanic Gardens)

Banana leaf rice at Sri Anada Bahwan Restaurant - 

mid-break during Saturday lessons for Family Medicine

Batu Ferringhi Penang Island Sewage Treatment Plant

- @ Indah Water Konsortium

No better way to start the day than with a presentation - welcome to Indah Water :)

Prof. Richard's Class of 1991 RCSI Alumni

- for Career Talk and Symposium

Mr. Tan brought us to a bread factory - where we learnt all about food quality and safety:

We also left with plenty of piping fresh bread! :D

Coffee powder factory was next on the list...

Coffee beans before being fried in huge vats

 Ray showing us the random handful of coffee beans he received from one of the workers :)

The final stage is packaging the coffee beans ^^

Roasting the beans up to around 200 degrees Celsius is no joke!

This is the end result of the beans - it needs to be cooled first before grinding to powder and packaging :)

Surprising Melvin at his apartment

l-r: Esther, Kuhan, Melissa, Emma, Zi Yan, Melvin (the birthday boy!), myself, Hong, Khee Heng

Dinner at some fancy-schmancy restaurant whose name I can't quite remember XD

Their spaghetti carbonara was really quite good tho <3

Surprising Melissa for her birthday!

l-r: Sim, Emma, Varin, Vincent, Myself, Melissa (birthday girl!), Kuhan, Stephanie, Jason, Esther, 

Zi Yan, Melvin, Khee Heng, Ice, Hong)

I had the good sense of taking a picture of the restaurant so I remember the name XD

Ko. B. Q is its name then :)

All-you-can-eat Korean style BBQ buffet at only RM30 (€6)! What a steal :)

We wasted no time in ordering a smorgasbord of marinated meat, pork, and chicken etc.

Nothing like finishing off with dessert :)

Slightly dark group pic

Our bus to take us to the Food Quality Lab in Butterworth

After almost an hour, here we are!

Yet another one of those presentations - what a treat - just seat back, release, and let the passive learning take place! ^^

Syringe for mass spectrometry if I remember my medicinal chemistry correctly XD

A road trip we will go!

(myself, Sim, with Gareth and Faezah behind us)

Guang Ren Leisure Home

Group photo with the whole Public Health group :)

One of those days that calls for Secret Recipe

After our second tutorial on SPSS software, Sim suggested that we try out a famous char siew rice shop. Didn't disappoint at all!

I especially loved their hot and sour soup - which went really well with the richness of the siew yoke (roast pork belly)!

It doesn't look like much, but the flavour that this dish packs is simply out-of-this-world!