10th NHAM Annual Scientific Meeting 2006

Recently, I had a privilege to attend the 10th National Heart Association of Malaysia Annual Scientific Meeting from 31st March to 2nd April 2006, fully sponsored by drug company. I went with a friend and we shared a room in Hilton KL, a 5-star hotel.

Here are some photos I have taken:

Viem from KL Sentral station

The beds

The wash room from the side view with the door slide-opened

Somebody can actually watch you bathing from outside

A plasma TV

The magnificent KL view

What a wonderful '6-star' experience I thought.

Mind you, the room cost about a whopping 15% of my salary, and never in my life I would imagine I'll be able to afford such luxury.

However, our stay was marred by an unpleasant experience. On the third day, we went out for dinner with friends and when we came back, we were denied access to the room. Reason, our sponsor had only made reservation upto that particular day, due to miscommunication. Though, it was later settled, I was so embarrassed thinking of the whole episode.

Didn't the hotel management have some kind of courtesy to at least to have inform us earlier regarding the matter, and not when we tried entering the room at 10.30pm?!

I remembered few months back, when I was staying in a 2-star hotel in Seremban, the receptionist called to confirm the extension of our stay in the hotel.

Never mind such humiliation. When we checked-out, we were told there wasn't any outstanding balance to pay and my friend even asked the credit card slip be torned in front of us (something new I learned from my friend).

Anyhow, to my friend's surprise, he was billed RM18.90 in his credit card 2 weeks later. How could that possibly be considering the credit card slip was torned? Both of us wrote a complaint to the management and we were told via e-mail later that we had consumed a packet of SMS chocolate in the mini bar fridge.

My friend and I were trying hard to figure out how could there be possibility of us swallowing up that damn chocholate, knowing before hand that those foods in the mini bar fridge were chargeble and damned expensive.

Then, I told him I did remember that I ate a packet of SMS chocolate which was given in the lunch box set, and I did throw the empty packet into the bin. Probably, they could have mistaken that the packet was from the mini bar fridge.

Unsatisfied with this kind of day-light robbery, I told my friend to reply to the management explaining our innocence, though that RM 18.90 was just a small sum to my friend.

However, my dear friend did not want to bring up the matter further, because he felt it is embarrasing for us as professionals, specialist doctors to be exact, to fight for such 'small' sum of money back, as those fella out there is a reputable international 5-star hotel.

He also fears that we could be 'black-listed' by the hotel in future should we have the opportunity to stay there again. What a cowardly reason.

I told my friend anyway that Hilton KL is gonna be black-listed by me instead!!

By the way, I should not be making a big fuss, as the money was not mine.

PTK Exam

Went to Kepala Batas (KB) for PTK exam today (7/6/2006). Started out early in the morning at 8.15am, although the exam was on 9.30am, just in case, traffic jam or I might lost my way. This was my second time been to Kepala Batas, the first was last year where I actually accompanied a medical team accompanied the PM during his visit to officiate an IT function there. I've only been to Millenium Complex then.

Anyway, it just took me 5 minutes to reach the Kepala Batas tol exit from the Sungai Dua exit. When paying, I asked the tol collector which way to go to this Institute Latihan Perindustrian, she told me to turn left after I reached to a traffic light juction.

So, just as I followed her instruction, I did not see any sight of such place. Somehow, after 10 minutes of diving (at 60km/H), I did not see any building along the road. Both sides of the road were lined by oil palms. I then called my colleague (who used to stay in KB) to comfirm whether I was heading the right direction. While he told me that I won't miss it as it is a big blue building along the road, I then arrived just in front at the destination.

I started with the UMUM paper. Some of the questions I got for today were:
1. To descripe the "Tonggak 12 dalam perkhidmatan".
2. ??Forgotten.
3. Explain in your own comprehension regarding the dasar and slogan of the following:
a. Dasar Cekap, Bersih dan Amanah.
b. Dasar Pembangunan Negara.
c. Kepimpinan Melalui Teladan.
d. Kesihatan Menjamin Kualiti.....
4. Something about "Komunikasi Berkesan", perkara yang menghalang komuniti berkesan, ciri-ciri, komunikasi berkesan.
5. Something about Manual Prosedur Kerja/Fail Meja.
6. Dasar Nilai-nilai Islam dalam perkhidmatan. Hurai 10 nilai yang boleh diterima oleh Muslim dan bukan Muslim.
7. A case senario of a pharmacist U41 who was supposed to a ttend a meeting in Melaka and Taiping from Johor. Nyatakan 5 elaun yang layak dituntut. Apakah syarat dalam tuntutan elaun perjalanan and elaun dobi? Berapa hari layak menuntut elaun penginapan?
8. Tabung Bantuan Perubatan. Huraikan. Beri langkah-langkah untuk mengurangkan isu birokrasi.
(Supposed to select 5 out of 8 questions).

Finished at 12.20pm and I went straight to the canteen for lunch. The food sucks, though I was very hungry. I didn't eat. Then I met a friend. We had a long chat. I told him I was attempting the second time. I got a III for UMUM and IV for KHUSUS.

He told me I don't have to repeat the KHUSUS paper, as I have achieved the maximum requirement. I was like "Is it?". "Yes, it is stated in the exam slip". It read: "Mana-mana bahagian dalam peperiksaan ini adalah TERBATAL sekiranya seseorang calon itu telah lulus Bahagian tersebut di dalam peperiksaan yang lepas".

Gosh, I didn't bother to look at that. Anyway, I still waited till 1.45pm untill I got confirmation from the examiner attendent. I finally left early, looking for some Chinese food around town in Kepala Batas.