Brain gain: British-trained specialist doctor returns to Malaysia

Dr Helmy Haja Mydin cautions prospective returning professionals to have realistic ambitions, and advises them to at least have a five-year plan on what they'd like to accomplish here. Photos: Dr Helmy Haja Mydin

Noble? Perhaps. But Dr Helmy Haja Mydin’s return to Malaysia is far more than just a feel good story of wanting to do ... er, good. With some of the country’s best talents out there recognising the need for their abilities here, the 34-year-old respiratory specialist chose to uproot himself from Scotland and head back to tanah air.

“I feel there are more opportunities to do things in Malaysia than in more developed countries. In Britain, they have plateaued where service development is concerned,” he says at a recent interview, intimating that while the place we call home isn’t in dire need of a raft of changes, there is still much to be done, especially in the area of policy development.