Healthy links for medics

Eye-opening session: Dr Jeyaindran (third from right), Khor (left) and guest speakers during an interactive forum on issues and challenges faced by Malaysian doctors, housemen and medical officers.

THE Malaysian Medics Inter-national (MMI) aims to promote greater collaboration and establish regular dialogue with the Health Ministry and healthcare industry leaders.

This is to help raise the quality of healthcare in the country and address key challenges faced by young medical professionals in Malaysia.

This decision was made at the closing of the first Malaysian Medical Student Summit (MMSS) 2015, the largest ever undergraduate medical student conference in Malaysia.

MMSS 2015 was organised by the MMI, a non-profit association established by medical undergraduates to promote knowledge-sharing and facilitate dialogue between medical students and the private medical sector together with public healthcare authorities.

The collaboration was to look into issues relating to Malaysia’s healthcare system.

“The medical summit will be the first among many that will see students gather to network, share and learn good practices within the profession. By acquiring industry knowledge and keeping abreast of the latest advances in the healthcare sector, we hope to address some of the pressing issues in our healthcare system,” said conference organising chairman Khor Zhong Wei.

He highlighted the fact that the conference facilitated networking among Malaysian medical students from both local and overseas universities, and that it would serve as a vital link for future collaboration and information dissemination.

The event’s patron was Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine dean Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman.

The keynote speech was presented by Health Ministry deputy director-general Datuk Dr Jeyaindran Sinnadurai, who spoke on “Housemanship and Specialty Training in Malaysia”.

A panel of distinguished medical experts from Malaysia’s leading healthcare and medical education institutions also took part in the two-day summit.

Members of the panel included Malaysian Medical Licensing Examination Committee chairman Prof Datuk Dr Mafauzy Mohamed and Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia executive committee president Prof Datuk Dr Daniel Mahendran Thuraiappah.

Prominent medical research doctors Datuk Dr Amar-Singh HSS and Prof Dr Hany Ariffin also spoke on the latest trends and developments in the industry. They also touched on options for future medical career paths for undergraduates.

Among the conference highlights were a medical exhibition with over 27 non-profit medical organisations participating, a national-level medical poster research competition and three interactive events – MedTalk, Creative Poster Presentation and National Medical Oral Quiz.

The summit was attended by over 600 medical students from 50 universities and institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and overseas.