We’re all so familiar with the term ‘relief teacher’. Relief teacher = Someone who is hired by a school to temporarily baby-sit the classes taught by a teacher who’s on course, NS reservice, sick leave, maternal/paternal leave, study leave, childcare leave, etc, the list goes on. In Singapore, this relief teacher doesn’t need to undergo any sort of training to apply for the post. He/She can be an O / A level graduate waiting to further his/her education. But normally, a relief teacher is previously a trained teacher or has retired from the service.
My surprise came when the receptionist at my usual clinic told me that Dr so-and-so who had attended to me was a relief doctor! Initially, I had thought the clinic had a new doctor. So my usual doctor was on holidays. I was rather upset over the standard of patient care given by this relief doctor. She had hearing problems (I had to repeat myself all the time) and didn’t seemed to be interested to ask me questions to confirm her diagnosis. No eye contact whatsoever too. She took a quick glance at the swollen insect bites on my legs and went on to write down whatever descriptions I gave. And that was it.
I just hope that this relief doctor didn’t prescribe the wrong medicine to anybody.
It is interesting to think that there’s a pool of relief doctors out there waiting to be hired when full-time doctors aren’t available. I supposed that many of these are old and retired from their practice just like the one I encountered. I mean, how many doctors out there actually do quit from their practice in mid-life? As high as the turnover rate of teachers here in Singapore? I don’t think so.
I really hope that there are decent relief doctors out there. Life is at stake if such doctors don’t perform their duties properly. It is still possible to repair the damage done by relief teachers once the full-time teachers take over but don’t play play when treating diseases ok.
aiyer! so scary! relief doctor???
You don’t want to see this relief doc. She’s naturally switched off one!