I wish to refer to the statements by the health minister on Oct 15 in The Star , Longer hours for select clinic .

While this measure to extend the opening hours of the primary health clinics by offering overtime allowance is much welcomed, this alone is not likely to solve the problem.

In fact, this is very much similar to the so-called 'locum' that is now conducted in many emergency departments in public hospitals.

There are still loads and loads of cold cases during the Hari Raya season. And this has been going on year after year despite now that we have the so-called 'locum' doctor system in the emergency department, who is supposed to clear the cold cases.

This is because the system is being conducted on a voluntary basis. Naturally the doctors would want to enjoy their festive seasons as well, and as such, there would be no 'locum' doctor during busiest of busy times where their services are desperately needed. In other words, it defies its purpose.

During times which are not so busy like normal working days, many doctors are grabbing the slots, "fighting" for extra slots to earn the extra cash they need but when their services are really needed, they are not willing to do. There must be additional mechanisms as well to make this recommendation works well.

At the end of the day, it is also the willingness of the doctors that count unless, the ministry is making it sort of compulsory for doctors to work (something like the on-call system in other wards).

Besides that, the ministry should also work on educating the public. It is not enough just during festive seasons when the minister make a statement or two that cold cases should not be seen in emergency departments.

The ministry may want to consider making video clips to be screened in television channels just like the gory scenes of accidents in the television.