Same content in new programme

MORE than 1,200 new graduates who were recruited as contract medical officers recently attended the Mind Transformation Programme (Program Transformasi Minda) at various locations throughout the country.

This programme superseded what used to be known as the BTN Induction Programme. However, this new programme seems to be no better than the previous one, which was highly-charged and deemed to be racist in nature.

As such, I believe it was also conducted by the National Civics Bureau (BTN).

My nephew, who was one of the participants, and his friends were shocked that a lot of the discussions and deliberations centred around the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issue.

Why can’t the Health Ministry (MOH) ensure that the transformation programme is used for better purposes instead of sowing discriminatory feelings towards certain segments of our rakyat? Whether we like it or not, LGBT are part of our society and the earlier we accept them, the better and more peaceful it will be for all of us.

The Health Minister, his deputy and the director-general of Health have declared that the Health Ministry treats everyone as equal and provides the same level of service and healthcare to all.

Is this true or just a public relations smokescreen?

Yes, the minister and his deputy are newly appointed but the director-general of Health has been there for years. Does he not know what is taught and deliberated at the programme for these newly-recruited contract doctors who will undergo the two-year mandatory housemanship?

To the director-general of Health and the Health Ministry’s principal secretary of the Training Management Division, please take control of all programmes under your ministry and conduct the courses yourselves.

Ensure that only relevant topics are included in the five-day curriculum. If you fail to take immediate preventive and corrective measures, some of these newly-minted doctors will soon be active practitioners of discrimination against the helpless LGBT and will not adhere to the sacred Hippocratic Oath.

And when that happens, it will be against what the Minister, his deputy and the director-general of Health have publicly declared.

I applaud the new Youth and Sports Minster’s announcement on Monday that the BTN will be abolished. Please do it today, otherwise the minds of many more of our young professionals will be corrupted with the utter rubbish, discriminatory and stereotyping information delivered during the programme. And this will be a shame in the noble profession of medicine.

CONCERNED CITIZEN Kuala Krai, Kelantan