Poignant

In clinic to day - the last one before my long break - a stewardess patient came to see me. She worked for MAS, and had been doing so for almost a couple of decades.

After going through her medical issues, she sat down and started to cry. Apparently the whole organisation had been feeling the strain. Some of her colleagues had left MAS to join other airlines with better perks. But she had been with MAS for so long and find that starting afresh was not an option.

The morale had been low for some time. The last time they received a bonus was about 7 years back. With the two devastating event this year, the spirit had gone rock bottom. But she felt that there had been a groundswell of support from fellow Malaysians, but conceded that it may have been too late. MAS would be struggling to carry on as it was.

Luckily she was my last patient and we spent some time chatting. A few of her friends had taken leaves due to anxiety, leaving her having to work during the Raya period. She didn't mind that, but felt it may be time to leave MAS as well. The put it bluntly, the problem with MAS was deep-rooted, and she was hoping that the two incidents, as painful as it was, may be the turning point for the whole organisation.

A wished her the best of luck, and on a personal level, I had always been a supporter of MAS. The moment I stepped into an MAS cabin at Heathrow, I felt that I was already home. I was sure plenty others who spent a big chunk of their time abroad felt the same way.