About Yeop Azman

My name is Yeop Azman. I would like to thank you for your interest in my website and would also like to introduce myself. I was born on Wednesday, October 17, 1979 @420 in the University Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Because of my diplomatic parents, I have been to many different places and experienced many cultures.

From my birth in Malaysia, we have moved to and lived in Switzerland, the United States, Russia and Germany. I studied medicine in Zagreb, Croatia lastly resided  in Slatina. I then moved to where my clinic is in Voćin, because they are missing a doctor for "on call" duties and I stepped up.

I attended high school in Bonn, Germany at Bonn American High School, a Department of Defense Dependent School. I was there for the first three years of high school, and was part of numerous activities - which I still do - that earned me a full scholarship. This defined the person I was until I moved to Europe for graduate school. I then attended the International School of Kuala Lumpur for my senior year and graduated with three honors (NJHS / NHS and Tri-M Music Honors) and 12 varsity letters in numerous sports and activities.

After graduation, I received a full scholarship from the Malaysian Government Public Service Department (JPA) to study pre-medicine, and attended North Carolina State University. At the age of 17, I arrived to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and decided to major in Biochemistry (Pre-Med).

In 2001, I graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Structural and Molecular Biochemistry and gained interest in understanding the human body, its reactions to different stimuli and figuring out solutions to major diseases through a biochemical viewpoint.

I worked at aaiPharma Inc. with an association with PPD Inc. after my graduation in a phase I clinic as a laboratory technician and was immediately promoted to administrative assistant after making the clinic more ergonomic and efficient. I was introduced to a great doctor, research nurse and an amazing staff who believed that I could become something more than a laboratory processor, since I basically revised and rewrote the clinical SOP.

I then applied to medical schools in Europe and found myself in the University of Zagreb Faculty of Medicine, which was previously partnered with Harvard Medical International, which advertised "USMLE Included". In my last year of study, the University of Zagreb retracted their contract with HMI and I could not return home to Raleigh, North Carolina nor to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During my medical education, I explored possibilities in medicine. I became interested in internal medicine, primary care, emergency medicine, pathology and public health.

Due to my parental pressures, I went back to Malaysia after getting my degree as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Medicine in 2009, and was trying to find employment opportunities in clinical research or medical journalism, since the University of Zagreb was not a recognized school by the Malaysian Medical Council.

Medical writing was something I became interested in when I was in medical school and I started writing a blog on Alternative Medicine and my journey through the bureaucratic and personal hurdles to start a career as a medical doctor.

I could not find a job as my degree was not recognized by the Malaysian Medical Council, and I was not a Croatian citizen, and they would only allow Croatians to do an internship, take the licensing exam, specialize - a law they still have not changed. In the meantime, I built aspirations to work in or start an NGO or a NPO, so that my life would have that underlying purpose. After moving back to Zagreb and changing Croatia's laws with a help from a French colleague who had the same problem, I completed my internship position at KBC Sestre Milosrdnice and passed the state licensing examination in April 2013.

After passing the licensing exam and was granted a temporary license by the Croatian Medical Council, I accepted a position in Zadar, Croatia as a Medical Doctor in the Department of Emergency Medicine in Zadar County. Due to personal reasons (landlords would throw their tenants out during summer to rent their apartments for tourists during the summer), I then moved to Martinščica on the Island of Cres to work the rest of the summer as a Primary Care Physician.

After 6 months of fighting more regulations with the Croatian Medical Chamber and Ministry of Interior for licensing and work permits, I was finally given an opportunity by the Department of Emergency Medicine in Sisak-Moslavina County as an Emergency Medical Doctor. I moved to Hrvatska Kostajnica, volunteered for the Red Cross, became a volunteer firefighter, and played French Horn for the Firemen's Brass Orchestra. 

After 5 years living as a second-class citizen in a tiny village, I applied for permanent residency and got into the residency program at KBC Zagreb in Emergency Medicine. Mr. Ivan Gornik, the department head, decided I did not "fit into the culture" of the emergency room despite doing twice the work of my peers, and let me go after 6 months. The hospital then made me pay back the pay and the "teaching costs" of my mentor, who I met twice and who did not teach me any procedures.

I then got hired by Medecins du Monde Belgium, to create and run a clinic for the refugees held in Hotel Porin, Kutina and Ježevo. I left as their Medical Coordinator for being gender-equal instead of pro-feminist (MdM only reported female abuse, and I wanted to add male abuse, because according to the people I treated, I saw more harm to males, and females were barely harmed by the local police). I returned to Emergency Medicine in Varaždin, but that was a long daily drive, and waited until I could return to Sisak-Moslavina County. 

During COVID19, I was one of those doctors who ended up burning out. The new director of the department did not understand the concept of "burn out" despite all the papers written on the issue during the pandemic, and I got "let go" from that department. I was forced to quit, so the department did not have to pay for my rights. I decided at the age of 40 that I am too old to be carrying 25+ kg bags, hiking through snow, and carrying 220-pound people on a 75ish-pound gurney.

In 2021, I accepted a job as a Primary Care Physician in Dom Zdravlja Voćin, Croatia. In order for Voćin not lose their right to Emergency Medical Care, I moved to Voćin, and was on call at least one week per month. Despite clashing culturally with my superiors and the mayor, I put patients first; a concept most Croatian doctors apparently do not understand.

At the beginning of 2022, The mayor of the town allegedly called the police with an accusation that I was a member of ISIS. My blue IKEA blanket was mistaken by his wife to be the ISIS flag, and the emergency services were mobilized. The schools were evacuated, the firefighters at ready, the ambulances were called, and the police came to arrest me while waiting for a warrant to raid my apartment and car.

Newspaper reporters arrived, but the stories were squashed very quickly by higher powers. I was left in the freezing cold with all my possessions strewn across my apartment.

Having being humiliated and traumatized, I went to a friend's place to finally grab a beer and then ran away to Zagreb, where I took the first flight back to normality - Malaysia.

I am IMC registered, CMC registered and am gave up my dream job working as the primary care physician to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and others without legal status in the EU to gain more medical experience in Ireland as a senior house officer.

Personally, I had to sell my mountain bike to pay for rent and bills and food during the rough times as a doctor, as we only earn $1200 (8500 kn) in Croatia.

I write recipes on this website. I write songs on the guitar. I love cars and aspire to own the Honda E one day.

I hope you will enjoy my website and find it informative. My curriculum vitae is available on LinkedIn. There are some recipes, pictures, and my personal projects I have worked on, but never completed due to lack of funding and bureaucratic barriers.

If there are any further questions, remarks, comments or proposals, feel free to email me at: yeopazman(at)gmail(dot)com.