All three are doctors. A primary care doctor is a doctor, a hospital doctor is a doctor, and a public health doctor is also a doctor.
All practise medicine. What differs is their function, the level at which they work, and — in a practical sense — who their “patient” is:
- For the primary care doctor, the patient is usually the individual and family in front of them.
- For the hospital doctor, the patient is usually an individual who needs deeper diagnostic, procedural or specialist care.
- For the public health doctor, the “patient” is often a population.
That difference is important because Public Health Medicine is sometimes misunderstood as administrative work simply because many public health doctors are based in places called Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah (PKD), Pejabat Kesihatan Kawasan (PKK), or Pejabat Kesihatan Bahagian (PKB).
