What to expect in a 1-Malaysia Clinic

The sign board says this government run 1-Malaysia Clinic (Klinik 1-Malaysia) opens seven days a week, from Monday to Sunday. Must be a very busy and public service oriented clinic, or so I thought, operating every day of the week.

However, what I saw behind the tinted glass panels was not what I had expected of a normal operating clinic. Inside the comfortable and air-conditioned clinic the rows of blue colour fibre-glass seats and the electronic ticket counter board does give an appearance of a regular clinic. However appearance aside, on the morning of I and my wife's visit the clinic was practically empty of people except for one male visitor, the two of us and the three nursing staff that we saw. Perhaps more people would come in after noon time, I found myself rationalising the cause of the empty clinic.

Although the only visitor at that time there was leaving the premises the staff insisted my wife to punch a number. So she went through the motion of punching a ticket and sitting down to wait for someone to usher her into the consultation room for taking her blood pressure measurement.

Although there is a tag at the counter reminding the visitor to ask for an official receipt, the clinic didn't charge my wife for the consultation.

The name 1-Malaysia Clinic is a misnomer. Except for the male and female nurses the clinic has no doctor in attendance. It doesn't provide basic medical diagnosis and treatment nor prescribe medicine. It seems the only service the clinic provides is to take your blood pressure readings. Now I recall how a government doctor told me that 1-Malaysia Clinic doesn't even provide the service to measure your blood sugar level.

I could be wrong, but that was what the staff in this particular clinic told me. Maybe other similar 1-Malaysia clinics elsewhere do provide some basic medical services. As I have never visited another 1-Malaysia Clinic other than this one before I couldn't verify the medical services available in other similar clinics.

As we push open the glass door to exit I waved and said bye-bye to the staff at the counter. As the counter staff was busy chatting among themselves, with no visitors to attend to I didn't expect an acknowledgement of my friendly greetings. Looking at the image of the empty clinic in the rear mirror as I drove away from the parking lot I then understood why this clinic is so underutilised; the absence of even the most basic of medical diagnosis, treatment and medicine prescription services are discouraging the public from visiting the clinic.

In contrast at the bigger and better equipped government community clinics (Klinik Kesihatan Kerajaan) scenes of huge numbers of patients overcrowding the waiting area and enduring long waiting times to get medical treatment and prescription are the norm every day and at all hours of the day.