Why Be A Doctor?

I begin my words with the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful.

I have been preparing this article for about a month in respond to a request from a friend, who wants me to share about a life as a muslimah doctor. After a stressful week running the hospital and outpatient department (OPD) with only two of us around, finally I finished writing this articles. Hopefully it will be beneficial for me and anybody who wish to be a doctor.





When I was a little child, I’ve dreamed of being a teacher after seen my dedicated teachers working hard to educate me. I was once dreamed to be a tailor after seen my mother sewed my dress beautifully. I was once dreamed to be an architect after I saw amazingly built building.

Then my dream changed when I grew up, when I started to ‘know’ Islam better through usrah and started to learn what the purpose of life is. With the encouragement from my ustazah also naqibah, I plan to take medicine for the sake of Islam.


INTENTION

I’ve always ask myself from the beginning, why I want to be a doctor?

The Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:
"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated." [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Making a decision to take medicine as a profession is an important decision in somebody’s life. I always remember what my medical school dean, Prof Mazidah told us when I was in my first year of medicine:

“If you want to be a doctor just to please your parents, just forget it. If you want to be a doctor to earn lot of money, just forget it because you will be paid with the amount that is not worth it with your workload. If you want to be a doctor because you think that you’ll be popular, forget it because people might not appreciate you.”

I know that I should always renew my intention; I want to be a doctor for the sake of Allah. I want to be a doctor to help people by healing their pain, as a person who helps people will be blessed by Allah. I want to be a doctor to fulfill the fardu kifayah need in our community. I want to be a doctor to help in developing medicine knowledge among muslims.


REQUIREMENT

To be a doctor, you need to get a good result in your SPM, enter matriculation or pre-medical program or pass your STPM (in sciece site), and then obtain a M.D or MBBS degree from any university that had been accredited by the government. Any medical school required you to complete at least 5 years of undergraduate study, but you might be extended 6 months to 2 years if you fail on your exam. The reason of such strict system in medicine is to make sure that you are graduated as a good and safe doctor for the public.

Apart from a good medical knowledge and skills in medicine, you should have extra criteria to be a good doctor which are; have extra patience, have a good public relation and communication skills, flexible, compassionate but firm.



HARDSHIP IN BECOMING A DOCTOR

When talking about hardship of being a doctor, it comes back to your intention. A good intention will help you to face all the obstacles during your carrier. As a doctor, you will not have enough rest and sleep, sometimes missed your meal, limited time for your personal matter, especially during your housemanship (first year of working). Sometimes you need to do on-call every other day, working 30 days non-stop in a month with limited days for your emergency leave, sick leave or maternity leave.

You need to have a very understanding family because you will have limited time to spend with them. You need to sacrifice your rest and manage your time wisely.

The tougher task is when dealing with people; you might sometimes be scolded by your seniors, tortured by your own colleagues, and cursed by patients and their relatives. You will face many kind of patients; fussy, angry, too many request, dependent and sometimes obsess. These kinds of attitude need to be overcomed with extra patience and calm. Sometimes you might be failed to face it especially when you are too tired, too hungry or in stress.


MUSLIMAH DOCTOR

Being a muslimah doctor, you sometimes have to face the situation that tests your faith and principles. During your very busy day with only 15 minutes time of rest, you need to skip your meal to perform you prayer. Sometimes you need to assist a long operation that you need to jama’ your prayer. The other thing is to maintain your hijab in operation theatre (OT) as hijab is not provided as one of OT attire and some medical centre does not allow you to enter OT with your own hijab. As a muslimah doctor, you need to act wisely with your source and local settings to make sure you’re not going against your religion in doing your job.


CONCLUSION

Being a good muslim doctor required a true intention, good knowledge and soft skills, strong physical and mental fitness, and a very big sacrifice. I end this article with a question: Are you willing to sacrifice to be a doctor? If you are, you will be a good one, Insya-Allah.

Wallahua’lam.