A Family Doctor's Tale - MY COMMUNITY OF PATIENTS

MY COMMUNITY OF PATIENTS

Patients consulting me at the clinic were mostly from the housing estate in which the clinic was situated.

There were 8 clinics all together in the whole housing estate plus 2 Chinese traditional medicines shops with sinsehs (Chinese traditional doctors). 
Competition was pretty tough. 
However my clinic work was more of a community work for me so I do not mind the competitions as long as I have a reasonable income from the clinic.

Fifty per cent of my patients were of the low income and low middle income group of the population situated in the housing estate and nearby rundown shacks of Holland Village. 
A few were from the landed properties near Holland Village.

At that time Holland Village was not the glamorous Holland Village which you will see now with its many eateries and niche shops. 
At that time it was more like an arts and craft type of village with cheap goods.

The remaining fifty per cent of my patients comes from various parts of Singapore. 
There a group of Hainanese dialect Chinese patients from Sembawang recommended by their relatives. They were a close knit community. 

There was another group of Teochew patients from the Hougang area. 

There was a diverse group of patients from a kampong (rural village) on a small island called Pulau Brani who has relocated to Telok Blangah and Queenstown who were recommended by one of their friend who was cured of his asthma by me.

There were also groups of Malays staying in Queestown, Chua Chu Kang, Bedok and Jurong who were recommended by a friend who was treated for her osteoarthritis with great improvement. 

Some patients came from Johore which was in Malaysia and Tanjong Pelanping in Indonesia. The standard of medicine in their countries were not as good as in Singapore. 

Such was the power of word of mouth in spreading my reputation as a good doctor.

 Early in those days I was seeing babies treating them for jaundice, infection of the navel, and of course colds, coughs and diarrhea.
I used to give away pamphlets on breastfeeding which was still the recommended method of feeding. 
For those who were already on milk powder, there were samples of free milk powder given by milk companies  to promote their brand of milk and an accompanying mother's book on how to use the milk, taking care of the postnatal problems, and taking care of the baby.

I also gave childhood vaccinations to the children such as the Triple antigen of tetanus, diphtheria and poliomyelitis until the 1985 when all the children slowly migrate to the care of their own pediatricians (children doctor). We had to throw away a lot of those expired vaccines and stopped  the vaccinations.

I also did prenatal examinations for all pregnant women who wished to be under my care giving prenatal monthly checkups and vitamins until the fifth month of pregnancy when they were referred to Obstetricians in private or public hospitals.

There was a Malay woman from one of the islands of Singapore who was married to an older Malay Man.
She was under my care for her first pregnancy. She was a naive and trusting woman and refused to go to Hospital until she was due to deliver. I advised her on the need to check on any pain or bleeding. Everything went well until the day when her water bag burst. I check on her , confirmed that the head of the baby was inside her pelvis and sent her to hospital.She even asked me when she would deliver. I told her "about six hours". True enough she did deliver 6 hours later. It was her belief in her doctor that made her deliver exactly at that time.

Nowadays all the pregnant women would see their own obstetricians and preferably female obstetrician.

Up to today I have families up to 4 generations who still come to see me though they have moved away from the estate. 
Of course they would consult their nearby doctor first but if they did not improve, it was back to their old family doctor (me) for treatment.

Many of my old patients have passed away during my 36 years of family practice but their families still come to see me or buy my cough mixtures, skin creams or my combination of drugs for rheumatism, cold, cough or diarrhea.

If your treatment is good , there will always be patients who will follow you. Even if they cannot come themselves, they will send their families or children to buy the medicines that worked for them.