Although TCB is old, he is quite good on social media. This is a posting by him. Can tell he really likes his time as a doctor in a rural village. Check out the story on the man with the wedding ring.
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In 1971,Former Member of Parliament,Dr Tan Cheng Bock (68 years old,) gave up the opportunity to practise medicine in the private sector and went on to set up his clinic in the village.
When asked the reason for doing so,Dr Tan said he believed that as a medical doctor he should put to good use what he had studied.
“Working as a doctor in the private setup treating patients with flu and cough symptoms will not have given me the same satisfaction.”
Dr Tan opened his clinic at 292 Yio Chu Kang Road,a vacant shop house,with the help of a friend’s brother. As the clinic was located at the junction of Yio Chu Kang Road and Ama Keng Road,the clinic was named “Ama Keng Clinic”.
“When I bought my wife there,her first reaction was “Are you sure you want to run your clinic here? The place is so rural.” But I told her it was an ideal location.”
Those days Dr Tan had to drive for one hour daily from Margaret Drive,where he lived,to his clinic at Yio Chu Kang. The clinic had three nurses to assist him.
He reminisced that the clinic was usually crowded with patients with about 70 to 100 patients visiting the clinic daily. This kept him very busy. Sometimes he could only leave the clinic after 10 pm at night after seeing the last patient and by the time he reached home it would be 11 pm.
“I had given no thought about how much money to make. Sometimes I would receive items such as chickens,eggs and durians from the villagers. I remembered one patient gave me a whole pig. My friends and I roasted the pig and we had a roasted pig feast.”
Dr Tan mentioned that,as a village doctor,the greatest challenge was to be able to handle situations that would include ferrying very sick patients to the hospitals,as help was not readily available.
Dr Tan was well loved by the villagers at Yio Chu Kang and when he relocated his clinic to Jurong West after 10 over years there,the residents at Yio Chu Kang still visited him at his new clinic.
There was once a dad brought his baby to Dr Tan for treatment of asthma and when he had no money to pay for the medical fee,he gave his wedding ring to Dr Tan. Dr Tan refused to accept it and gave the dad a good scolding. “I told him to bring his kid for treatment whenever the kid was ill. This lasted 10 over years and I had never charged him for the medical fees.”
About 10 Years ago,a young man visited Dr Tan’s clinic one fine day and brought along with him a hamper for Dr Tan. Dr Tan could recognise him immediately as the baby whom he gave free treatment to. Dr Tan says “the young man told him that his mum had insisted he sent the hamper to me. This was the only one gift I had accepted since I became a member of parliament in 1980. This is the joy of a doctor.”
