The Microbiology Lab

All right, as mentioned in the topic, I was in the Microbiology laboratory at the General Hospital (also known as the Ipoh Hospital). As expected, Tan-Loh Joash and Wong Wei Li were there, too, although Joash came later than I did (apparently he went for a Hepatitis B jab). So we made our way to the lab, which was quite secluded from the rest of the hospital.

There, I had to wear my lab coat which I bought in UTP. When I wore it (but didn't button it up), everybody gave me a strange look. They also gave Joash a strange look as he wore his father's doctor's coat. Everybody must have seemed to think that we looked too young to be microbiologists or doctors. Anyway, we just made our way to the lab.

Upon our arrival at the lab, I was received quite nicely. They were surprised to hear that I was a student of UTP and only when I displayed the UTP logo sewn on my lab coat that they believed me that I'm a student there. There also felt strange that a student whose course is in Physics chooses to be in a Microbiology lab, which has totally got nothing to do with my Engineering course! Well, I explained to them that it was sheer curiousity and interest that brought me up to the lab. I really wanted to know how the bacteria were cultivated in incubators and how they could identify the types of bacterial diseases (except tuberculosis; that will be done in another lab) just by looking at the blood, urine, stool, phlegm or any types of samples through the microscope. Sometimes, they even keep the slides for future use, in case they have university trainees (they can then show them the slides using the microscopes).

The ground rule when you enter the lab is, of course, wear your gloves. I was given gloves and with them, I was even allowed to handle the petri dishes, syringes, slides, microscopes, practically anything that is allowed for me to handle. The microscopes were still light microscopes, but much more sophisticated than our monoscopic light microscopes in our school labs. I viewed so many different types of slides containing different types of bacteria, some rod-shaped, some spherical (coci) and some were vibrio (shape of a comma).

I had taken one or two photographs with Wei Li, Tan-Loh Joash and another friend who is a university trainee in the Microbiology lab. Once I get them developed and scanned, I'll put them up here.

It has been a wonderful experience for me, because I know that I'll never have this kind of opportunity to be in a Microbiology lab myself, being an Engineering student. Though the lab looks old, the people in the lab are full of humour and nice. I always thought that these microbiologists are not very friendly and they do their work in total silence. But for the whole day in the lab, not a single moment passed without any noise. There was bound to be jokes here and there and we would laugh to our hearts' content.

And though the lab looks old, the equipment can be considered state-of-the-art, because most of the equipment are new and quite high-tech.

This is the moment that I shall regret forgetting. I couldn't thank Joash more for helping me getting permission to enter the lab and spending my whole day there. The microbiologists there had been very helpful and informative. They were always there to answer your questions when you're in doubt.

It is with such interesting activities that you will never feel lonely, bored or depressed. It has certainly made my day a lot more happier.

A lot of us will be leaving elsewhere to further their studies, either under the PSD Scholarship programme or own their own. I was told that the PSD scholars would be starting their term on the 26th of June, therefore I shall not be able to meet any of these people before the 26th as I shall be in Beijing for eight days. As such, I could only wish everybody all the best and God bless.