2009 has just left us and what a remarkable year it was. We achieved so much last year it would not be easy to emulate it in 2010. In this new year message, I will highlight some of the achievements in 2009.
Our new respiratory consultant Dr K Kannan joined us in February and immediately wrote a manuscript based on the paper I presented in Tokyo, Japan in 2008. This paper "Pleuroscopy: Early Experience in an East Malaysian State With High TB Prevalence" was published in the reputable Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. It was the first paper from Malaysia in the field of pleuroscopy to be published in the journal.
Our specialists Dr Tie Siew Teck and Dr Wong Jyi Lin from Sarawak have been with us for 18 months now. During this period, they have made multiple scientific presentations locally and internationally. They presented four papers at the Malaysian Thoracic Society Annual Congress in Kuala Lumpur and one of their papers won first prize. Of note, Dr Tie Siew Teck presented our experience with Methacholine Challenge Test in asthma as we were the first centre in Malaysia to provide this test. Their papers were also accepted for presentation in Beijing, China and Seoul, Korea. Dr Wong Jyi Lin's case report "Successful Treatment of Post-intubation Tracheal Stenosis by Rigid Bronchoscopy and Topical Mitomycin C" was accepted for publication in the Cases Journal (In Press). This case was also presented in the Grand Round session at the Malaysian Thoracic Society Annual Congress. Both of them are now busy writing several manuscripts for publication.
I would also like to congratulate my medical officer Dr Lua Guan Way who has recently passed his MRCP exam. We look forward to training him to become a chest physician after his gazettement. Our Sleep Medicine Unit is now handled by two new sleep technologists Ammar Rafidah and Lennisiah.
Associate Prof Dr Fauzi Md Anshar had been travelling to our hospital once a month to train in rigid bronchoscopy and he completed his training stint in October. We wish him well as he is now busy setting up rigid bronchoscopy service at UKM Medical Centre. We would always welcome him to our place to do cases together so we can learn from each other. Dr Jasminder Kaur, a Fellowship trainee from Institut Perubatan Respiratori, Kuala Lumpur spent one month with us in May to get some exposure in pleuroscopy and rigid bronchoscopy. This was followed by Dr Ariel A Boongaling, a pulmonologist from the Philippines who spent 2 months (June and July) also for training in pleuroscopy. This year, we are expecting four overseas Fellows to come to our centre for training in interventional pulmonology. One of them will be coming under APSR (Asia Pacific Society of Respirology) sponsorship. We are honoured that our place is recognised in this region as a training centre.
We received a surprise visit by Dr Richard Sue, American interventional pulmonologist from Arizona, USA in September. Dr Richard was on holiday at Kota Kinabalu and came across our centre on the internet. We managed to hold a useful discussion with him on how we could collaborate in this area. By chance, we had to perform tumour debulking in the airway while he was here and we invited him to watch and assist us.
By far, our biggest achievement last year was the third National Interventional Pulmonology Course held on 10-12 October at Sabah Medical Centre. I am delighted that this event went well and I thank the Malaysian Thoracic Society and the Lung Foundation of Malaysia for their support. For the record, 46 delegates from Malaysia, Far East, South East Asia, India, Ireland and the United Kingdom attended. We are proud that a National course received good response from overseas delegates. This has certainly made Malaysia stand in the eyes of the world in respiratory medicine. I should also thank my team members i.e. Dr K Kannan, Dr Tie Siew Teck and Dr Wong Jyi Lin for working hard to ensure the event went smoothly. Of note, one of the overseas delegates, Dr Mohd Samiuddin from Hyderabab, India decided to stay back after the course for another 3 weeks to get some hands-on training in pleuroscopy.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the course, we are already planning to organise a workshop that focuses on a specific area of interventional bronchoscopy in June this year. This will be called "TBNA/EBUS/RIGID BRONCHOSCOPY WORKSHOP". We hope to showcase our expertise in sampling intra-thoracic lymph nodes using various methods i.e. conventional, EBUS and rigid bronchoscopy. There will be live videos as well.
Our Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) is currently involved in a phase IIb clinical trial to test a new drug in COAD. We hope to be able to participate in a new clinical trial this year. Of note, the New England Journal of Medicine published a landmark paper in August on a lung cancer trial for which we were actively involved as investigators. We were honoured when we were acknowledged in the paper for our contributions.
Consultant
oncologist Dr Jayendran K Dharmaratnam from Likas Oncology Institute has recently left to take up a new post. We wish him well for the future. We will continue our multidisciplinary lung cancer meeting with visiting oncologist, radiologists,
pathologists and palliative care team every fortnight as we do with the visiting IJN cardio-thoracic team every month. I welcome our new consultant pathologist Dr Ahmad Toha to our multidisciplinary team.
In keeping abreast with times, we have decided to put our department on Facebook. Facebook as we are aware, is known to be a website for social networking. I believe it can be more than just for social networking. We will make the Facebook site a place for our fans to interact with us. Already within a short time, we have more than 200 fans not only from Malaysia but also from around the globe. This site is meant for everyone i.e. doctors, nurses, assistant medical officers, medical students, patients and even the public who would like to know our activities, learn about lung diseases and perhaps get involved in our activities. We will post educational materials such as interesting case reports, videos etc and hope to get your feedback on the site. I urge all our Facebook fans to encourage their friends to join this Fan Club. My energy was augmented when I saw many young medical students from my Alma Mater in the Fan Club. We trust you will return to Malaysia one day to serve the country.
We have also been appointed by the Lung Foundation of Malaysia (LFM) as their representatives in Sabah. We shall do our best to support their cause and carry out fund-raising activities.
On a personal note, I thank Yg Bhg Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, our Deputy Director General for appointing me to the National Specialty SubCommittee for Respiratory Medicine. I shall do my best to discharge my duties and make respiratory medicine a popular specialty not only in Malaysia but also in this region.
Last but not least, I thank all our staff for their fabulous support during 2009 and wish all of you "KOTOHUADAN OM KOUNSIKAAN DO TOUN VAGU DO
DUMONTO, 2010" (THANK YOU AND HAVE A
PROSPEROUS YEAR IN 2010).
I look forward to working with you all again in 2010.
