Back in the days where i was still in working in Tan Tock Seng Hospital - Ward 8c. We often had lost relatives looking for the patient. They would usually have no clue of the patient's actual name. They would keep telling you the patient's name is 'Ah Miow'. And no matter how they spell and respell the name. You cant find it in the hospital patient's records system.
They will also insist that you would be able to find the patient's records by the 'wonderful' clues they give. For example; His surname is Tan and he stays at Bukit Batok. And also the most important...He has asthma problems.
Despite telling them we cannot simply find a Mr Tan who stays at Bukit Batok in the patient's records system. And in the system, we do not register patients by condition. But even if we do...how many Mr Tans we would have who stays at Bukit Batok and has asthma?
One day, a lady came into the ward and was looking for her relative. She gave my ward clerk a piece of paper with the patient's name on it.
First, she looked at our ward census and did not find the name there. Which would mean the patient is not in our ward.
Second, she looked into the hospital patient's records system to find which other ward the patient may be at. And she did not find patient's name there too.
She turned to me and said," Hey i really find this name very familiar. And think its our patient but i cant find the name anywhere."
I asked for the paper with the name on it. To my horror and amazement, i saw written on the paper "Tan Tock Seng'
I replied to the ward clerk," Of cos you cant find it anywhere. It says Tan Tock Seng. As in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She is not telling you the patient's name. Someone probably wrote this for her and she thought she could find something with it."
Ward clerk giggled," No wonder i find it so familiar. Hahaahha."
