poor kid poor parents

it was our clinic afternoon. we were quite having fun, playing with the kids all laughing and smiling. then came in that baby boy. He looked small for his age, even non-medical personnel can tell he's thinner than normal infants. His mother brought him, a very thin woman, age at most, my age (I think, because she's wearing a shabby old-looking National Service t-shirt). He was wrapped in an old, soiled, worn towel. The mother told Dr. Andy that he had been vomiting everytime he feeds, and today he had diarrhea. Its kinda obvious we were quite surprised to watch how negligent a mother can be, like the child has not been fed, because all the milk intake was vomited out! and for a week! thats like dog weeks for a baby! and upon examination, the baby was quite dehydrated, with no tears upon crying and dry oral mucosa despite good skin turgor. and the poor baby's clothes were stained with his stool and urine.

Then, Dr. Andy told the mother and father (came in later) that the child had to be admitted for IV fluid infusion. Being ignorant on how severe their baby's condition was, the parents seemed reluctant to admit the child, mainly the dad being so stubborn, making lots of excuses like he has no time coz he's got work, its far, the grandfather wont let it etc etc, it took quite some time to persuade them to finally admit the child to the ward.

Apparently, this family came from a lower socioeconomic status. Its sad that such condition still exist in Malaysia. Family who is poor, with loads of children, leading to more negligence, and parents with no education, who dont really know/care about their children's education, leading to school drop outs, leading to no job/low salary jobs. Those people need to know that to break the poverty vicious cycle, they need to get proper education! Education does not only bring money, which is really important nowadays as the standard of living grows higher and higher (seriously, money makes the world go round), people with education is usually respected and put on a higher social class.

Oh gosh, what am I preaching here?! I guess I'm just hoping that those people can wake up and face reality, because I really can't imagine living in such difficult environment, where you actually have the choice to change your life in the first place. Life is all about making smart choices, baby~

and ME! please choose to study. study like there's no freaking tomorrow! medicine is your passion, its science about human being, its understanding the human body, its the study of the awesomeness of our body, the disease and changing the course of evil nature by treating them. science, that I love so much. come on, me! please study! like FREAKING NOW, please!!! *crazy!*