Job Discussion Forums

[mishmumkin]

[Duffy]

.....

[Duffy]

VS,

You are relying on other peoples descriptions of a place you, by your own statement/admission, have never visited.
How can you possibly say these things are, or were what you have declared you have, without ever having been here??

Do you rely 100% on all others who describe the place?

[veiledsentiments]

[Duffy]

OK VS

Get your point.

I have edited out the rant at BFS, guess he has his reasons. Mind you, it was my birthday yesterday (63rd) and I did have a few, well, more than a few, G&T's.

[flutterbayou]

When we discuss what it might be like to live outside Muscat in a small town, let's include school Admin and resources as reasons to be cautious when selecting a place to work.

A friend of mine recently asked his interviewer about poor teaching resources and a lack of legitimate and adequate copies of books for students. Naturally, the curriculum coordinator for MOHE backed her employer and told the applicant that books get ordered but sometimes arrive late. What she didn't tell him is that books believed to have been ordered in August, 2007, had yet to be delivered in March, 2008, at more than one of the Colleges of Applied Sciences and that teachers (in Sur, for instance) were photocopying pages out of an original copy (great IPR networking), frequently at their own expense.

Another caution regarding medical facilities in small towns follows: before agreeing to come to Oman, one should ask lots of questions about the medical facility where you will receive free treatment. In Sur, teachers are forced to use the clinic/private hospital where recruiter Majali is Co-Chairman of the Board. He will telephone the hospital to ask why a teacher is requesting treatment and has on several occasions told hospital staff to refuse treatment. One teacher at the College was accused of hiding a pre-exisating condition (fraud) and another teacher was ordered out because he/she was soon leaving the country. My question is why should one's sponsor know details of your confidential communication with your doctor.... The hospital food is also ordered from the restaurant of Majali's hotel (and paid for by the in-patient) so you can see that at least one recruiter does whatever he can to exploit his recruits.

[veiledsentiments]

[flutterbayou]

I would go beyond concern for children and focus on major gaps in medical discretion, VS.

When I was being treated by a physician, he told me that ______ had come in yesterday in grave condition with _______, before I explained that I found it unprofessional that he tell me the medical problems of someone I knew, or anyone for that matter.

Another factor to which I take issue is the misconception that the recruiter is the employer. He is not, but is the sponsor. More to the point is that this recruiter has recently corrected his running ad to make that point clear. He had previously claimed that his recruits worked for him until I pointed out that the contract states otherwise. His ad now correctly states that contractees work for the Ministry and not him.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the threads here have given descriptions of similar ratta-ratta for a long time, but many fail to point out major issues that might, otherwise, wave a big red flag to people unaware of what it's like to be in Oman in 2008.

And belated birthday wishes to Duffy....

[omanized]

And don't forget that the employer pays the insurance premiums and not the actual bills - or pays the teacher who has already paid the bills depending on the coverage deal the ins. company has.

Irrelevant if the doctor himself is gabbing on about Mr. x's "rash" in the delicate areas or whatever !

omzd ( rash free )

[flutterbayou]

Ethics are always relevant, and may I emphasize ethics, rather than law:
Doctor-patient confidentiality is based upon the general principle that individuals seeking medical help or advice should not be worried that their medical concerns or conditions will be disclosed to others.

When we go to the doctor, we reserve the expectation that physicians will hold that special knowledge in confidence and use it exclusively for our benefit, and this sort of ethic was not upheld by Dr. `rub noses and give me kissy face`in Sur.

And might I point out that someone`s serious condition was given to me, which left me feeling as though my medical condition would soon be up for chat, too.

If I find it relevant that a colleague`s `grave`medical condition was leaked out to me without appropriate discretion, then it is relevant. I am simply passing on examples of lack of principles I observed in Oman.

[veiledsentiments]

Just another reason to avoid the villages. It is rather like rural US when I was a kid and everyone knew about everyone's rash and where/how they got it. If one goes to these countries expecting everything to be like back home, best not go. Not to mention that medical privacy is a joke in the US since the government accesses everything at will now.

VS

[lall]

[veiledsentiments]

My goodness Lall... small town India is even worse than small town US when I was growing up. I wonder if this situation is a reflection of the fact that so many of the doctors in the villages of Oman are from India.

VS

[flutterbayou]

I sometimes wonder why EFL teachers don't read more accurately at this forum. I enjoy lots of people here, but I hope people read their students more accurately than they do these posts.

I never mentioned legalities; in fact, I originally emphasized that I did not approach this matter from a legal view but from one of ethics.

Neither did I ever mention anything as trivial as a rash. The joke of a rash came from another poster.

Grave means grave. And since the other patient was from a western country, I am certain that he or she would NOT have wanted me to mention a health concern that would have raised issues to his/her ability to remain at the job. I believe that this person would have been mortified.

Not only that, I told the doctor so, and he said I was right and that he would not tell others.

But I simply cannot let this small town America image go by one more step. Having been raised in a medical family in the US, I know for certain that not one iota of talk about patients was ever mentioned in our home. Reaching way back in the past for examples in this forum has never done it justice and I wish people would stop comparing today with twenty or thirty years ago.

Rant over - feeling much better - do not intend to insult or injure - everyone have a nice day.

[Stephen Jones]