The Master Whom I Am Going To Miss

Around 30 years ago,I walked into the Surgical Department of Penang General Hospital(Pggh) as a young enthusiastic doctor with a dream of becoming a surgeon in the future. I was posted to  the Urology Unit as a new surgical officer as it was a newly established unit in Pggh.However, I was still adamant to join the General Surgical Department to get a wider training in the surgical field. At that time, it was very difficult to get into General surgery, so I decided to  approach the Head Of Department Mr.Ismail to recruit me. Unfortunately, it was a herculean task to get an appointment with Mr.Ismail. I used to shadow him wherever he went to accept me into his team.

 One fine day , he had no choice other than to accept me in the Surgical Department because he couldn’t stand me following him constantly everywhere, even to the toilet! 'Naga , let me piss in peace! 'Come tomorrow and join the General Surgery, he said  That was how my surgical career took off and so did my relationship with my mentor.

Mr.Ismail is a man of few words and he only trains a handful  of 'chosen' trainees. I was one of the few who was privileged to work directly under him.His training methods is where for the first case you will assist him, then the next case you will conduct the operation and he will assist you. The following case you will have to do the operation and he will hang around in the operation theatre and the last case you will have to do it by yourself.

During that time there was an acute shortage of doctors and even fewer surgeons were available. Mr Ismail was the only Consultant surgeon available, who was on call for 365 days.

The daily work at that time depended on surgical officers.If one shows interest and keenness to go that extra mile, the Surgeon had the discretion to promote the surgical officer to the post of a registrar.At that period of time, a few of the senior surgical officers passed the postgraduate fellowship examinations and they were transferred out as surgeons.Thus, I was lucky to be trained and given opportunities to do more complex surgeries in order to do a  registrar call.

During this period I grew attached to Mr.Ismail because he had to come at odd hours to teach surgery. Only then I realised, what a meticulous and fine surgeon he was.

There was a common description that a surgeon must have an eye of an eagle, a heart of a lion and the hands of a lady. He clearly elicited all the qualities both in his operations and also in his clinical examinations of his patients.

Besides that, he is one of the clinical consultants who will stand by his word and decisions even with the administrators when it comes to work.His working colleagues and patients were always right.

He was not only a good teacher to me but also a good mentor who takes keen interest in advising me on the importance of work and family balance. He motivated me during my low ebb times .I will never forget his advice, that going for postgraduate fellowship exams is tough and told me to join the masters program. As a young doctor, I did the exact opposite and had to face the consequences.

He would always remind me by saying, I warned you earlier because I don’t want you to face the difficult times that I went through, but it was to late  to revert and I had to struggle juggling my family, my work and my exams at the same time. He was there for me whenever I was feeling down. There were times as a young registrar, I was keen to venture into higher level of surgical skills and he will find someone or brush up on his surgery just so he could guide.

Although his favourite past time include fishing and jogging.He would forego them, whenever I needed help in the surgery or if he needed to teach me new techniques of operation.

After few years of working and contributing to the state of Penang as the state surgeon, he was transferred back to Klang since his family lived there. It was heart breaking to part from a wonderful surgeon who trained me, but it is part and parcel of the government service.

I used to keep in touch with him always and he used to visit me whenever he dropped by Penang. At times he would give a call and introduce me to his new found surgical officers and medical students whom he teaches; though by then, I myself  have become a senior surgeon in the government service. Although he has grown old, with the emergence of social media I used to keep in touch and update him on my progress in work, my adventurous activities as well as affairs of my family.

As time passed, the communication from him reduced from conversations to texting to emojis. Lately, I came to know that he left us to a better place to share his experience.

I miss a wonderful mentor who has moulded me to be the person I am now. This is a tribute to my dearest gem whom I cherish and who had made a lasting impact in my career and life.