Myanmar doctors and British Health Service

Nowadays, more and more Myanmar doctors are working in British hospitals across the UK. I believe there are at least one or two Myanmar doctors working in each hospital. In fact, that number is nothing compared with Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi doctors who have been major contributors of National Health Service in Britain.

Basically there are two kinds of Myanmar doctors in the UK, based on their origin. The first group is those who came in with their own money. Most are young graduates. They do not join government service in Burma. Once they complete their 1 year internship, they come to Britain. They sit General medical council's PLAB test to be eligible to practise in the UK.

Another group is those who came with Myanmar government scholarship programme. After achieving master degree in Burma, they need to take selection exam. Ministry of Health selects the candidates with highest scores and send them to UK for further degrees,such as MRCP, MRCOG. Government provide them £5000 as scholarship award, as far as I know. For those from Myanmar defence service, they get extra money from Myanmar army Medical department. They are supposed to go back to Myanmar after 2-3 years. Majority go back. But some did not.

One interesting thing is that there are 2 types of Myanmar passport, Red and Green. The red one is for general public and the green one is for government officials. The latter is also issued to Myanmar scholarship doctors. It is only 3 years valid and not renewable. That is problem for those who want to stay in Britain for more than that duration. Some have not achieved intended degree. Some have achieved, but do not want to go back for some reasons (main reasons are a high salary and a better life style in Britain). Pay for a junior doctor is from about £25,000 to £34,000 annum. Around £40-50K for middle grade doctor and over £70K a year for consultant level doctors. According to my close friend, some doctors have a very good relationship with Myanmar passport authority. So they were able to change their green passport with normal red one which is renewable.

Ok, I'm just sharing what I know. For me, whoever they are, I like to see more and more Burmese doctors in west as Burmese community is still tiny. At the same time, I have a concern about care of patients in Burma. But I console myself with the though that there have been 3 medical schools with enough production in Burma.

Buddha Idol in my living room

I just decorated Buddha Idol like this as my sister brought it from Burma last week. Some people might think it's not so appropriate to place a Buddha Idol in the living room. For me, that's fine. I don't think my Buddha Idol will bother other people visiting my house.(if they're not happy, don't come anymore, no problem at all. In my house even my senior consultant physicains need to take off their shoes, not because of Burmese tradition, it's just for health reason) I am traditionally Buddhist, but not religious. I will create my life myself while following Buddha's some guide lines. I would say Buddha would be my teacher as well as my companion.

Think about Canada

You may be aware that Britain's high skill migrant programme is becoming tougher. Many of my friends's applications have been rejected despite their annual income is around £32,000 (over US$ 60.000). Sometime, I wonder why many people keep trying to get a stay in this tiny island while even British natives have been leaving for a better place. In fact, there has been a concern about British economy as manufacturing sector has plummeted and it is only depending on vulnerable service industries. 2 years previously, the UK has left behind China.

Health service is one of the disappointing areas. In Britain's national health service hospitals, everybody has to wait for 4 hours to see a doctor. (some hospitals might happily announce that they achieve 4 hour waiting target) It is a shame, I feel. In Burma, world's so called poorest country, people can see consultant doctors, who are fellow members of Britain's Royal Colleges in an half an hour when they need medical attention. A news paper revealed a couple of years ago an elderly people died in accident and emergency department while waiting for a doctor.

For many more reasons, I am thinking to leave Britain. I picked up 3 countries, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. I don't like Australia without obvious reason though I love to visit maximum 2 weeks. New Zealand is a stranger to me.

I just choose Canada. I feel Canada is a fantastic place. I dont need to surrender my British citizenship. I can easily achieve their required scores for high skilled visa. Easy to get permenent resident and Canada citizenship as far as I understand.

If you have a Bachlor degree, if you have IELTS score 7 in each skill, if you have around £3000 in your bank account, you will most probably qualify for Canadian high skilled worker program.

If you are interested to settle in Canada, you can assess yourself here.

Skilled workers and professionals: Self-assessment test

For more info, here is an official site.

www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp

Good luck.

Weird AOL

These days, for some reason I have to use AOL dial up. It's understandable that dial up connection is terribly slow. But what I don't understand is that sometime connection was lost. After that pop up windows appears repeatedly, asking me to restall AOL software. When I clicked the buttom, it led me to IE browser with blank page. You know what happened. I mean no point after losing of Internet connection to ask me to download and reinstall online AOL software.



That problem is not new. It has been going on for years. Maybe AOL has chosen wrong persons in its firm to make such a silly mistakes. I know human error is inevitable.But sometime I think if those IT persons got a job as airplane pilots or medical doctors, the area of cemeteries needs to be extended indefinitely.

In fact AOL is notorious for its very heavy front page with all sorts of rubbish adverts. For AOL broadband users, they can bypass that page. But Dial up users need to wait sometime up to 3 minutes to load its font page before getting its service.

Think twice before buying sick Microsoft Vista

I didn't intend to use new Windows Vista. But it's inevitable to explore it when I bought a new laptop which has got Vista Home Premium.

For me, Vista is nothing special.( I have no idea why Microsoft corp spent up to 5 years, using a great deal of people to develop this version. Basically, the product is worth much less than my one day wage and nobody are queuing to get it, Cf; Apple's iphone) Not so different from Windows XP in working process.

The thing is the softwares I have are only for XP version. I cannot install these on my laptop and I still need my XP deskstop. Moreover, I have Dell Axim X5 with Pocket PC 2002 which is working fine. Again, Vista's idiot Mobile Device Manager does not support it. I have no idea Microsoft is unfairly pushing people to buy unnecessary things by introducing its futile operating system. I suspect that must be micorsoft's dirty marketing technique.

Yesterday, I accidentally close it without logging off. Screen was black and nothing appeared even after restarting again and again. So I had to go safe mode and had to repair. I have no idea why Windows system is so vulnerable. Don't tell me I need to shut down properly. Sometime I have no time for such a rubbish computers with poor operation system. Why couldn't Microsoft invent a system like car engine? We can drive cars in 1-2 seconds after ignition. Why not computers? It has been wrong since opeartion systems were developed. The loading time to start and the time to turn off the system is taking too long as if the person with IQ 80 was trying to think what is next step after brushing teeth in the morning.

I suspect Vista configuration is weak and inefficient. As a result, its premium version needs memory at least 1GB Ram. Many knows that Microsoft is not so brilliant in terms of technology, but very clever in marketing. You may know the techno history. If IBM did not raise Bill Gate, a uni drop-out, there would not be Windows on earth.

I'm sure I am not alone who is criticising Vista. The following is from wikipedia.

Before the release of Windows Vista, expectations for the new operating system were high, fueled by both promises of new features, better security, and a better user interface, as well as the five year period since the release of Windows XP. Large numbers of businesses and consumers planned on upgrading to Vista. However, after its release, it was met with harsh criticism for low hardware support, high system requirements, relatively poor performance, and for not making big enough improvements since the release of XP. This prompted many users and businesses to hold off on upgrading to Vista and even caused some to replace Vista installations with XP. These results further led to low adoption levels of Windows Vista and generally poor public review, as reflected by its title from PC World as the biggest tech disappointment of 2007.

I would say I have to use Vista which has been pre-installed in my new laptop. Otherwise no point to buy. Don't worry about not using Vista. nothing special. You will not be left behind. You may need to think twice to use even if you get Vista as a x-mas present. Main reason are that your existing software is not working with poor Vista and you may need to upgrade your computer memory. In fact, Microsoft should enclose fee for memory upgrade and compensation for existing softwares not compatible with new version in its Vista package. That is what I believe. Do you think Vista sale will soar in next 12 months?

In fact I am not alone who saw Microsoft vista is suck. Read this article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6407419.stm)on BBC page.

When I googled news with key word "vista" this is the first link what I found out.

Vista Ultimate Extras: Ultimately Disappointing

X-mas Hot pot

Well, this is x-mas day. just preaparing Hot Pot.

A busker

I saw him. He is a busker playing music near Oxford street.

Busking is the practice of doing live performances in public places to entertain people, usually to solicit donations and tips. Those engaging in this practice are called buskers. Busking is a British term used in many areas of the English-speaking world. In the United States they are more often called street performers or street musicians.(wikipedia)

This year design

Today, while waiting for someone at the corner of Oxford street, I took this photo. Women's boots are not pointed ones this year, I noticed.

X-mas shoppers

Today (the first of December 2007), I popped to London Oxford street to buy a couple of shirts at Debenhams. Once I came out from the tube station, oh my god, a sea of people on the street, walking and shopping. Some part of Oxford street was closed, so people were on the street.

A BLONDE'S DREAM

A blonde keeps having the same weird dream, so she goes to her doctor.
Doctor: "What is your dream about?"
Blonde: "I am being chased by a vampire..."
Doctor: "So, where are you in this dream?"
Blonde: "I am running in a hallway."
Doctor: "Then what happens?"
Blonde: "Well, that's the weird thing. In every single dream, the same
thing happens. I always come to a door, but I can't open it. I keep
pushing the door and pushing the door, but it won't budge!"
Doctor: "Does the door have any letters on it?"
Blonde: "Yes."
Doctor: "And what do these letter spell?"
Blonde: "P.. U... L... L..."

Source: a friend of mine emailed me.