After battling Covid-19 in a district hospital, this surgeon gets to go home

Dr Ngo (right) acknowledges the sacrifices his wife Ng has made as a ‘single’ working mother during the years he was posted away from home. — Photos: Dr NGO CHOON WOON

As a doctor in civil service, Dr Ngo Choon Woon has worked in almost every corner of Malaysia.

For the past 13 years, he has gone from the west of Peninsular Malaysia (Selangor/Kuala Lumpur) to the south (Johor), then to East Malaysia (Sabah), followed by the peninsular’s east coast (Terengganu).

He almost made it up north (Penang), but opted to pursue his masters and was sent to Terengganu instead.

Whenever Dr Ngo starts a new posting, the first question people ask him is: “Where is your wife?”

“I always tell them I’m ‘single’,” says the surgeon, chuckling.

“I’m only married when I’m in Jenjarom (a town near Banting, Selangor) where my wife and two daughters are.”

But don’t get him wrong – he’s very much a family man and devoted to his dietitian wife, Sharon Ng, who was his college sweetheart while they were studying in Universiti Putra Malaysia.

In the early years, everywhere she went, he tried to follow. Literally.

“After graduation, I was doing my housemanship in Klang (Selangor) – it’s a hospital that doctors don’t want to serve in because the workload is hectic, but I prefer to work in places where no one wants to go.

“Also, I wanted to be near Sharon while she was completing her studies as she is one year my junior.

“But after she graduated, there were not many vacancies for dietitians in government service in Peninsular Malaysia, so one option was to go to Sabah.

“She got a job in Sandakan, and being young and in love, I naturally wanted to be with her instead of my family, who had moved from Batu Pahat, Johor, to Shah Alam, Selangor.

“So, after another year in Klang, I chased after her and managed to get a transfer to Sandakan,” recalls Dr Ngo, 37.

The couple spent a blissful two years working in the state whilst exploring its sights and sounds.

Dr Ngo also met a mentor who sparked his interest in surgery, and that’s when he decided to pursue a specialisation in general surgery at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s branch campus in Terengganu.

In the meantime, Ng got transferred to Hospital Banting.

He says: “Sharon and I are both avid scuba divers, and she suggested I go to Terengganu because there are so many dive spots there.

“But you know what? I spent four years there and never once went diving!

“Instead, I dived into all the surgeries, but on the bright side, the consultants were extra nice and taught me whatever they knew with sincerity.”

In 2015, the couple tied the knot during Dr Ngo’s second year of the programme, although they continued to live in different states.

Still, they managed to have two kids, now aged two and four.

Small town offer

Dr Ngo (right) performing keyhole surgery on a patient during pre-pandemic times.

As a freshly-graduated surgeon, he was sent to work at Hospital Sultanah Aminah in Johor Baru.

With a shortage of surgeons then, he was asked to transfer, but was given a choice of two district hospitals in Johor: one in Kluang and the other in Segamat.

“One of my colleagues told me to choose Kluang as it is near the highway and it would be easier to go back to Jenjarom to see Sharon and my daughter (he had one child then),” says the amiable Dr Ngo.

That’s how he ended up at Hospital Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom, better known as Kluang Hospital, in 2019.

As a smaller hospital, there was only one other surgeon there – the department head.

However, things ran smoothly with Dr Ng managing to gain a lot of practical experience.

He shares: “He (the head) gave me a lot of opportunities.

“I wouldn’t say it was a one-man show, but he let me, the junior, take on more clinical work, while he focused on the administrative duties and took on the big brother role.

“Even though Kluang is a minor hospital with less budget from the Health Ministry, we were doing major operations.

“I had the freedom to make decisions and was ‘merdeka’ (independent).

“We have an anaesthetist and radiologist, and the cooperation between the staff is very good.”

He adds: “In Sandakan, the sifu (master) taught us all the basics, and in Kluang, I was able to refine my skills and work a bit on the administrative parts.”

A few months later though, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and all hell broke loose.

At the height of it last year (2020), Kluang Hospital was designated as a fully Covid-19 hospital.

Suddenly, Dr Ngo and his department head found themselves treating Covid-19 patients.

Surgical instruments were shoved aside and they scuttled about trying to save patients.

“It’s like asking a carpenter not to hold a hammer and construct a basic design – an extremely challenging time for surgeons!” he says.

He explains: “In district hospitals, surgeries are carried out only in dire emergencies during this pandemic – if the patient is about to lose his life.

“Otherwise, the patient is shuttled to nearby hospitals.

“For example, if the patient has a hernia and requires an operation, there are no beds to put him in as there are many disciplines sharing a 24-bed ward, so we have to send him to Batu Pahat or Segamat.”

Scar recognition

He recalls a case when the movement control order was first implemented last year (2020): a man broke the MCO rules and snuck into his friend’s house for a drinking session.

Dr Ngo jokes that surgeons don't recognise faces, but operation scars instead. However, with everyone wearing face masks now, it is certainly more difficult for doctors to recognise patients and vice versa.

However, they got into a fight and the friend thrust a screwdriver into the man’s throat.

He was rushed to Kluang Hospital with the screwdriver dangling from his throat.

“The ward was filled with blood and my head of department SOS-ed me.

“I thought he needed help, but he actually asked for PPE (personal protective equipment) as we didn’t know at the time if the patient had Covid-19 or not!

“We managed to staunch the bleeding and asked the anaesthetist to open the operating theatre.

“We all wore our ‘astronaut suits’, and thankfully, the patient later tested negative and is still alive.

“I saw the patient a few months ago while I was climbing Gunung Lambak in Kluang.

“He recognised me, and said I saved him and showed me his scar – then I remembered.

“Surgeons don’t recognise faces, only scars!” says Dr Ngo.

For almost a year, the team was doing “frontliner” work before surgical work resumed in April (2021).

Prior to the pandemic, if a patient came in with severe abdominal cramps, the surgeon would be able to do a scope immediately if he or she hadn’t eaten.

Or the patient would be asked to return the next morning after fasting.

These days, because the scope is an aerosol-generating procedure, the standard operating procedure requires the patient to do an RT- PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) Covid-19 test.

The results take at least 24 to 48 hours to obtain, but in an emergency, surgeons have to take the risk and operate immediately.

“More and more patients are afraid to come to the hospital and I don’t know how long this will continue.

“So, we see advanced cancer cases, which were probably noticed at stage one, but have progressed to stages three or four, and we can’t do much then.

“This is the other collateral damage of Covid-19,” he says.

Reunited again

Since July 1 (2021), Dr Ngo has been based at the National Cancer Institute in Putrajaya to pursue his sub-specialisation in upper gastrointestinal surgery.

After 13 years of being a 'single man', Dr Ngo is happy to be back living full-time with his family.

The three-year training entails a year in Putrajaya, another in Johor Baru and the final year overseas.

Still, he cites Kluang Hospital as one of his best experiences thus far.

And how is it like living with the family again?

Laughing, Dr Ngo says: “I’ve been ‘single’ for so long, but now I’m a family man – I have to accept that!

“Sharon is very happy I’m back, but it’s still an adjustment for me.

“My freedom is a little curtailed now as I can no longer run to attend to emergencies – I have to inform her, especially since my mother-in-law cooks for us and wants to know if I’ll be home for dinner.

“It’s another protocol I must follow!

“I have to add that despite my workload and everything, I have not made any sacrifices – Sharon is the one who has made the sacrifices as she takes care of our kids.

“It is a godsent opportunity to be with my family and it’s nice to be stable in one place.”

His youngest daughter is still wary of her father because she’s not used to having a “stranger” around the house.

Whenever she cries and Dr Ngo tries to pacify her with a cuddle, she’ll howl even louder!

“She’s afraid of me,” he says, adding that “Well, at least my eldest daughter likes me!”.

Surprisingly, he never had to undergo quarantine due to suspected Covid-19 while he was in Kluang because the SOPs were followed stringently.

However, barely a month at Putrajaya and Dr Ngo has had to be home-quarantined as one of his patients tested positive for the infection.

Instead of isolating in a room in the house, his wife thought it would be safer if she and the kids moved to her parents’ place nearby and leave the whole house to Dr Ngo.

It was a lonely experience, he says.

He recalls that one of the first promises he made to his wife when they were courting was a trip to Europe.

Almost 15 years have passed and the vacation hasn’t materialised yet.

“Being a government servant, I didn’t have much funds then.

“Now we have to wait until the kids are a little bigger and the Covid-19 situation eases before we can travel.

“My advice to guys – please think first before promising your girlfriend something, because she will always remind you if you haven’t fulfilled it!” he says with a laugh.