KUALA LUMPUR: Travelling more than 60 kilometres over a muddy oil palm plantation road on a motorcycle to provide healthcare services to the Orang Asli community has become an invaluable experience for a community nurse.
For Soria Nordin (pix), 43, who has been serving at the Kota Perdana Rural Clinic in Pahang for over two years, the trip has now become a routine for her as she provides midwifery services to the the Orang Asli community in the area.
Soria, who has almost 20 years of experience in clinical practice and has worked in several rural areas including Felda settlements described the duty as having different and unique challenges.
“Working in an Orang Asli village is an indescribable experience because it may appear to be the same as going to a hospital in the city, but it’s completely different.
“We have to understand them (the Orang Asli community) in order to bridge the gap and make it easier for us to serve them,” she told Bernama when met at the Midwives Exhibition at the National Museum here recently.
On the challenges she faced, Soria said approaching the Orang Asli community for the first time can be quite challenging, as some of them are shy and wary of outsiders.
“We must be patient and always communicate with Tok Batin (headman), we will not return until the case is resolved and we will keep trying,” she said.
She said that community nurses are the frontline health personnel who will perform manual checks on patients at home without the use of sophisticated equipment before referring them to the nearest health clinic.
“Attending birth at home cases can be quite a challenge…sometimes we have to go to areas that are only accessible by motorcycles.
“The SOP (standard operating procedure) is to save both lives, we will be questioned in the event of a death because we are the first line healthcare personnel responsible for protecting the safety of mothers and their babies,” she said. –Bernama
