BRAVE, SICK OR JUST SLACK?

Last Tuesday, I had to prepare a lecture to be presented at 1.30pm. As usual, I had to skip lunch, after having just a cup of tea and some biscuits for breakfast. After the lecture, I had to attend a workshop and by the time I had my lunch, it was 4pm.

I felt my stomach cramping but I dismissed it as stress and continued to work till 6pm to meet a deadline. On Wednesday, the stomach cramp
continued but I pressed on to make a presentation to the parents at 5pm. This was not an exceptional day in school for me — it was a typical day.

Often, teachers who are sick will still turn up for work, either to teach or to print worksheets for the students. It was the same for me. I decided to
delay going to the doctor as I was hoping the pain would go away, as with previous occasions.

My husband was concerned when the pain did not go away. It cannot be mere food poisoning, he thought, as I did not have the usual symptoms of vomiting, nausea or diarrhoea.

A visit to the A&E department at 2am confirmed his worst suspicions — I had acute appendicitis. My appendix was removed by the evening. While recuperating in the hospital, I had time to reflect.

Many hardworking Singaporeans steer clear of taking medical certificates (MC), which give them a legitimate reason to stay at home to recuperate from an illness.

There are several reasons why we continue this common practice. Maybe we want to be team players and not add on to the workload of our colleagues. Maybe we are aiming for the Sports for Life award — in which you receive a monetary reward if you complete a walk or a jog within a stipulated time and have less than five days’ worth of MCs. Maybe our department head is aiming for a Healthy Lifestyle award and has set a target of reducing the number of MCs that each employee takes per year. Maybe our performance bonus is linked to the number of MCs we take. Maybe it is in our Asian culture not to visit the doctor just for minor ailments as we want to impress our boss with our hardworking attitude.

Whatever the reason, it is a good time for us to reflect on this issue. When is an appropriate time to take an MC?

Of course, most of us have colleagues who would take MCs at the drop of a hat. In fact, I am sure the number of MCs taken increases every four years in the month of June because of the World Cup.

Another popular time to take an MC is during school examinations, when parents need to give their children extra coaching. And don’t forget long weekends. With May Day falling on a Monday, many human resource departments will expect this Friday to be MC Day.

So on the one hand, we have hardworking Singaporeans who pride themselves in not taking MCs even when they are really ill. And on the other hand, we have a group of irresponsible workers who misuse and abuse the MC system.

As we progress towards a more developed society, I hope we learn to strike a balance. Hopefully, those of us who still turn up at work — even when we are entitled to rest — will realise the folly of sacrificing our health for the sake of being brave.

And others who are guilty of taking MC unnecessary will realise that if they don’t practice discipline, their workplace may counter their ways with more stringent schemes to minimise the number of MCs taken.

That would certainly affect the truly sick staff, and create an atmosphere of distrust in the workplace that we can ill afford to have.

This article first appeared in TODAY on 25th April 2006.