Dear Esteemed Friends and Colleagues,
2020 – A Year Lost!!
Greetings!!
As the end of 2020 approaches, with Malaysia in the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic and 10th month of MCO, I hope everyone remains well both physically and psychologically during this time of uncertainties.
MPA held its 42nd Annual
General Meeting (AGM)
on Sunday, 20 September, 2020 at the Auditorium Perdana, Hospital Tunku Azizah Kuala Lumpur, preceded by an update on adolescent health. It was the first hybrid AGM! Being the first, we had a few glitches, but we succeeded at the end. There were 3 proposed amendments to the MPA’s constitutions that were passed.
Constitutional amendments
- Firstly, the registered address of MPA shall be at Unit 16-07, 16th Floor, Menara Arina Uniti, 97, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, instead of the previous rented unit at National Cancer Society Building. The new office is located diagonally opposite the old office, directly opposite the famous Medan Selera, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz. This amendment can only be changed after the approval of the Registrar of Societies.
- Secondly, Ordinary Members shall pay an annual subscription of RM150, and Life Members shall pay a one-time subscription of RM1,500 (an increase from RM100 and RM1,000 respectively).
- The third amendment was the new normal that we practice now; that the AGM of the association can be held as a virtual meeting or a combination of a virtual and physical meeting.
During this third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Sabah is overwhelmed with extremely high number of cases. MPA donated a total of 10 syringe pumps and 5 infusion pumps to Hospitals Sandakan, Tawau, Keningau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Labuan.
PCV in NIP
For the good news – Ministry of Health has procured the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for infants and young children and will be incorporated into the National Immunisation Schedule to be given at 4, 6 and 15 months. Unfortunately, during this Covid-19 pandemic, many countries have reported a reduction in the national immunisation rate due to the many disruptions.
In a recent study on under-5 deaths in Malaysia in year 2016, excluding young infants aged 0-3 months, only 68.5% of the under-5 deaths had completed their immunisation for age, with the lowest in infants aged 4-6 months and 7-12 months at 61.7% and 60.0% respectively. For under-5 deaths due to certain infectious and parasitic diseases, and diseases of the respiratory system by ICD-10 classification, only 44.9% and 64.5% completed their recommended immunisation for age respectively. These immunisation rates were during non-covid-19 period. With Covid-19 complicating and disrupting the delivery of healthcare and conduct of proper surveillance, the immunisation rates may be much lower.
Online CMEs
Provision of continuous medical education (CME) has been an integral part of MPA, and is even more crucial during the pandemic. With the movement control order and the new normal, most CME activities are conducted through webinars. Since July 2020, there are 2 regular webinar series conducted monthly. The first is the `IMFeD Webinars 2020’ conducted monthly since July 2020; and the second is the `IJN-MPA-MPCS Paediatric & Congenital Heart Disease Webinar series’ which is scheduled on the second Friday of each month. This Paediatric & Congenital Heart Disease Webinar series replaces the previous paediatric cardiology grand wardround that have been running since 2010. Members are encouraged to log-on to the MPA website for updates and flyers.
Thank you.
Take Care and Stay Safe.
Hung Liang Choo
President 2019–2021
