FOM Chronicles DV Issue 2021

Deepavali Issue: November 2021 Volume 3 Issue 3

FOM CHRONICLES

A Publication of Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University

FOM Chronicles

Table of Contents

Faculty News & Activities……….............
Staff News & Achievements……….. ….
Student News & Achievements……..
Alumni News & Achievements……...
Articles and Commentary……………..
Dr. Neoh’s Gallery………………………...
Arts and Photography…………………..

Advisor FOM Chronicles

Sr. Prof. Dr. K.R. Sethuraman Table of Contents
Dean FOM, AIMST University
Faculty News & Activities………................3
Editor Staff News & Achievements……….. …...10
Student News & Achievements…….......11
Dr. Matiullah Khan Alumni News & Achievements…………13
Articles and Commentary………………...14
Editorial Board Dr. Neoh’s Gallery………………………........57
Arts and Photography……………………...58
Dr. Srikumar
Students' News & Affairs

Dr. Leela Anthony
Kospen+ & Women's Perspectives

Prof. Dr. P.K. Rajesh
ME Activity/Alumni News
Prof. Dr. Kevin Fernandez & Dr. Sawri Rajan

Community Service
Dr. Neoh Chin Boon
Arts & Photography
Dr. Badrinath Murthy

FOMAP
Dr. Mariette D’Souza

Literature & Music
Ms. Remya Vallathol
Students' News & Affairs

Dr. Vimalah Devi
Co-curricular Activities

Publisher Disclaimer of Liability: The Editorial Board
or the Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University
Faculty of Medicine accepts no responsibility or liability for errors
AIMST University or omissions in any news, information or
08100, Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia articles published in FOM Chronicles
Email: [email protected]

FOM Dean Organized the Certificate in
Communication Skills for Healthcare Professions (CCSHP) Course

The Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL), in collaboration with Senior Prof K. R Sethuraman, Dean Faculty of
Medicine, AIMST University, organized the course of Certificate in Communication Skills for Healthcare
Professions (CCSHP). The course commenced online on 28 April 2021 and concluded on 16 June 2021. A total
of 45 participants attended and completed the 18 hours session. Educators from Sri Venkateswara Group of
Institution (SVGI), Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute (PMCHRI), MGM Medical
College, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Government Institute of Medical
Sciences, India, participated in this course. This course aims to create Health Professions Educators
(Medicine/Dentistry, Nursing etcs), who are equipped to teach the artful practice of communications skills to
their undergraduates and postgraduate students.
CLL conducted an online certificate presentation on 7 July 2021. Associate Prof. Dr Ramesh Kumeresan Deputy
Vice-Chancellor of Students Affairs and Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, AIMST University, witnessed the
certificate presentation. Dr. S. Mahadevan, Director of SVGI, Dr. S. Ratnasamy, Dean of SVGI Medical College,
Dr. C. Sakthikumar, Director of PMCHRI, Prof. Dr. Surapaneni Krishna Kumar, Vice Principal of PMCHRI
attended the session.
Congratulations to all the participants.
CLL thanks the Management of AIMST University, SVGI, PMCHRI and Senior Prof. Dr. K. Sethuraman for
their support.
CLL started the second Batch of CCSHP on 9 July 2021. A total of 48 participants have enrolled for this course.

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FOM Students Organized TEDx Event at AIMST University

TEDx AIMST University organized the inaugural event on 29 August, 2021. A total audience of around 1300,
across both streaming platforms, Zoom and YouTube, participated in the event. The event kick-started with a
welcoming speech by AIMST vice-chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. John Anthony Xavier, followed by a short and
sweet opening speech by the advisor Prof. Dr. P.K. Rajesh.
Seven out of thirteen of speakers had the morning session, where they swept the audience off their feet in more
than one way. They were in their best-presenting selves, each having a different approach to their talk. Ms.
Melisha Lin, Dr. Navraj Singh Sidhu, Mr. Melvin Poh, Datuk Ramli bin Ibrahim, Dato' Dr. Fadzilah Kamaludin,
Dr. Andrew Kok Wai Yun, and Mdm. Anita Abu Bakar demonstrated different approach to their talk. Some made
the audience laugh, some made them cry, but all of them touched the hearts and opened our minds. They covered
different topics, ranging from passion to the power of the mind, digital age life, arts and culture, epidemiology,
prevention of illnesses, and mental health. They gave a new perspective to look at things.

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Webinar On ‘Adopting Jigsaw Model Curricular Delivery

The Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine (FOM), AIMST University organized a webinar on
‗Adopting Jigsaw model curricular delivery using fusion mode Pedagogy-A live sharing session‘ on Friday,
23rd July 2021.
This live sharing session featured experienced speakers from FOM and highlighted the role of ‗Contemplative
pedagogy‘, a process of being mindful and consider all aspects of a challenging situation to plan an effective
strategy for curricular delivery. Various guiding principles and solutions were discussed for the benefit of other
medical and health professions educators.

Dean Shares Deepavali Delights with FOM Staff

On the occasion of Deepavali 2021, FOM Dean, Senior Professor Dr. KR Sethuraman shared goody bags
containing yummy delights with all FOM staffs and wished them a very happy and prosperous Deepavali. FOM
staffs were really delighted by the special Deepavali treat and thanked the Dean for his help and support all
along and wished him and his family a happy and hearty Deepavali.

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MBBS Batch 26 White Coat Ceremony

White Coat Ceremony (WCC) for the MBBS Batch 26 was conducted online on 13th October 2021 by the
organizing team consisting of lecturers and representative students from Batch 26.

Various teams involving the students were as follow:
Zoom master:

Ashwin Raj A/L Muniandy
Keerthisha A/P Prabakaran
Music & Video Recording:

Krisna A/L Thiyagu
Loshini A/P Mogan

Photography:
Suwarna A/P Gunasekaran
Report Of WCC & Aimst Newsletter

Gokila A/P Meganathan
The event started with welcoming speeches by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anthony Leela and the Vice Chancellor AIMST
University, Prof. Datuk. Dr. John Antony Xavier followed by administration of oath of students by Senior. Prof.
Dr. KR Sethuraman. A talk on professionalism and ethics by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bina Rai was followed by a talk
on Dress Code and Decorum by Head of Community Medicine Prof. Dr. Kevin Fernandez. The WCC ended
with vote of thanks by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Theingi. The entire ceremony was hosted by Dr. Theingi with the
assistance of WCC organizing team.

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Battle of Asklepios 2021: Virtual Intervarsity Medical Quiz

Battle Of Asklepios (Boa) 2021: Virtual Intervarsity Medical Quiz is a fundraiser quiz competition organized
by R.E.D Association AIMST University. The objectives of BOA 2021 were to strengthen medical knowledge
among medical student and also to provide a platform for medical students and members of the public to be
involved in charity. BOA 2021 also aspires to raise fund for R.E.D Association to help the underprivileged
patients from Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim, Sungai Petani and Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar.
BOA 2021 was held from 11th September 2021 to 12th September 2021. The Opening Ceremony was officiated
by Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ramesh
Kumaresan and the closing ceremony held on 12th September 2021 at 4.00 pm was officiated by Dean of
Faculty of Medicine, Sr. Prof. Dr. K.R. Sethuraman.
The Quiz consisted of 3 Rounds. Round 1-Rapid Fire Quiz and Round 2-Case Scenario Trivia were Preliminary
Rounds with Medicine,Surgery, Orthopedics, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics. Faculty members from
those units were the judges for Round 2. Five teams proceeded to Round 3-Emergency Medicine Simulation,
which was conducted by CSC staff under Dr. Patrick. IMU won 1st and 3rd place and UKM won the 2nd place.
Despite the pandemic and Movement Control Order being amended, the committee of BOA 2021 has worked
hard to raise fund from Donations and Charity Food Sale. The BOA‘s Merdeka Food Sale was a ten days
charity food sale in collaboration with Zaque‘s Hotel and Apartment, Sungai Petani held from 1st September
2021 to 10th September 2021. This food sale has given an approximate profit around RM422.50. Hence,
cumulatively we managed to raise more than RM 2,000 through this event.

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FOM Donated Vital Sign Monitor to HSAH

FOM donated a sum of RM 4000 to Covid-19 R.E.D Association donated a sum of RM 2000 to
relief fund of Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim Covid-19 relief fund of Hospital Sultan Abdul
(HSAH). Deputy Deans FOM Dr. Leela Anthony Halim (HSAH). On the 2nd September 2021, Prof
and Dr. Srikumar at the handover ceremony with P.K Rajesh along with Tanushganth
the deputy Director of HSAH, Sungai Petani Sandrakumaran represented the club to handover
the cash to the hospital management of HSAH.

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Webinar On Sign Language Usage In Medical History Taking

On August 6 2021, the red association of AIMST organised the webinar entitled ―using sign language to talk
and take history‖. The webinar was open to the public and approximately 50 people were in attendance. During
the webinar, attendees shared opinions, thoughts and queries while learning the primary sign language in daily
medical settings. Persatuan Orang Pekak Pulau Pinang，keynote speaker, Ms Savithiri, and her assistant, Ms
Cheryl Jayanthi, shared the most typical sign language in assisting the medical practitioners in diagnosing and
taking care of the patients, especially those who are deaf or mute or both.

MEDSA AIMST University organized the "Probiotics Webinar & Yakult Virtual Factory Tour" in
collaboration with Yakult Malaysia. The objective of the webinar was to share information and knowledge
about probiotics in the clinical setting as YAKULT Malaysia have partnered with 54 hospitals nationwide
through their inpatient meals to treat gastrointestinal problems, post-operative infections and maintain
general wellbeing.

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FOM Staff Inducted In Academy Of Medicine Malaysia

Dr. Christina Gellknight, Senior Associate
Professor and Head of Department of
Ophthalmology at AIMST University, was
inducted as the ‗Member‘ of the prestigious
Academy of Medicine Malaysia, which is
conjoint with the Academy of Medicine
Singapore.
During the academy's induction ceremony in
August 2021, Dr. Christina Gellknight was
invited to join and pronounced as a ‗Member‘
by Professor Dr. Hjh Nor Fariza Ngah, the
President and Head of the Council of College
of Ophthalmologists.

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Gowri Mogan Kumarappa has accomplished
her 5 months journey with 'Felo Parlimen Malaysia'

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AIMST University's MBBS Batch 24 (Year 3) student, Gowri Mogan Kumarappa has accomplished her 5
months journey with 'Felo Parlimen Malaysia'. She was selected as one of 45 fellows of 'Felo Parlimen
Malaysia' from a list of numerous applicants.
Gowri's advocacy project, titled ‗Rethink the Future, Dare the World, Save the Planet 2.0 (RDS 2.0)‘ aims
at advocating environmental issues, by creating awareness on application of 5R (refuse, reduce, reuse,
repurpose, and recycle) as simple habits in daily routines via multiple workshops, webinars, forums and
online promotions, researches to preserve the nature, as well as assisting the Ministry of Housing and
Local Government to reduce cost on waste disposal.
She has also formed a board, comprising of undergraduates and postgraduates from AIMST University
and other institutions. The board has successfully conducted various events such as online workshops for
school students on 5R practice, a webinar with a Marine Conservationist to educate on microplastic
pollution and how microplastic has been added to the trending food chain of humans, and to multiple
environmental awareness advertisements. In addition, the board is also hosting an ongoing online contest
titled ‗Influencer of RDS 2.0‘.
RDS 2.0 will also engage government bodies to rectify environmental issues in the surroundings of
participants who have brought up their concerns to RDS 2.0 through various surveys which are being
conducted.
Most of Gowri's accomplishments and ongoing programs of the RDS 2.0 project in conjunction with Felo
Parlimen Malaysia, are being published on the following official Facebook page:

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.
.

FOM students Rubenaggan Bala Krishnan and Praveenath Rajendran were elected President and Vice Present
of the new Student Council of AIMST University respectively.

Malvinpal from our MBBS Batch 23 (Year 4) received the Best Speaker Award at the Rice Toastmaster Club
143rd Chapter Meeting on 3rd July 2021. He spoke on chess and explained the wonders of it. Malvinpal was
selected as the best speaker by the audience poll as they loved the way he articulated the concept of chess, facts
and stories related to the game.

12

FOM Alumnus Shared Her Experiences Post Medical School

13

Glimmer From The Spark

Dr.Bharathi Sengodan & Dr Sam Annie Jeyachristy

Mini Progress Test: A Self-Assessment Tool

Panadero et al. (2016a) defined self-assessment as a "wide variety of mechanisms and techniques through which
students describe (i.e., assess) and possibly assign merit or worth to (i.e., evaluate) the qualities of their learning
processes and products". To develop the learner's capacity for self-regulation systematically, teachers need to
ignite a spark by creating tasks for self-monitoring on the learning progress.

THE SPARK In the Immunology and Haematology System (MIHS), starting in the first week of the

module, questions were uploaded in the learning management system. Questions were
predominantly pathophysiology-based "why" questions to gain an accurate concept of
disease. The questions were at the level of what the student is expected to know at the end
of the course. Students could attempt to answer the questions anytime throughout the
entire length of the module as they learnt concepts from the ongoing T-L sessions. These
questions were intended to enhance the understanding of "how the disease disarranges the
organ/cellular function" that is particularly hard to observe with the naked eye. Questions
ranged from simple to complex in various formats, open-ended, fill in blanks, short
questions, and match the following. The next step is the feedback. Feedback is an
inherent catalyst for all self-regulated activities, so answers were posted for students to
self-assess and clarify any doubts or misconceptions at the end of the module.

GLIMMER How students perceived it!
The students acknowledged that the questions were an opportunity to self-assess their
knowledge and competence in the module, considered the course's strength, and recom-
mended it for the upcoming systems.
Some excerpts (verbatim) from the students' feedback
"….Plus, the self-assessment test was also the strength as it gave me an opportunity to test
myself on how prepared I am before the examination and gave me a rough idea of the
questions that might be asked for CA."
"The quizzes and the self-assessment progress test were really helpful."
"Progress test - the strength of the course"
"I hope more progress tests are uploaded for the upcoming systems as it really guided me
towards CA."
This longitudinal self-assessment tool to assess the development of functional knowledge
or competence helped the student experience less examination stress and inculcated con-
tinuous self-directed learning.

The "mini-progress test" as a self-assessment tool serves to minimizes test-driven learning

Conclusion strategies, encourages less independent learners and would be a rich source for continuous
benchmarking and quality improvement.

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An Evening With Mentees Of B22 Year 5

Dr Bina Rai

Community Medicine

After 2 years it was definitely time to pay a visit to Alor Setar specifically to see how the B22 students were
doing. I am happy to report that my 4 mentees – Gowreshankere, Brindashwathy, Khesshen Raj and Mona
Khanna, and friend Khoo Wei Chin are doing fine. On Wednesday 27th October we finally got to meet up. We
had a pleasant evening with good conversation, reflecting and reminiscing on good days at AIMST. Booted
with a nice dinner at The Place by DECO in Alor Setar it was a very nice evening overall.
All the best guys for your finals! You know you can do it!

Outreach COVID-19 Vaccination

Dr Bina Rai

Community Medicine

16th September was Malaysia Day - a Public holiday but not so for the vaccinators. The Ministry of Health aims
to vaccinate all its eligible adult population against COVID-19 and this includes the physically challenged who
are unable to get to the vaccination centers. Under the auspices of the National Cancer Society Malaysia with
members of Penang branch as well as Hospice Penang,(and one AIMST doctor) we went home to home in
Seberang Perai Utara, covering the miles to reach those who did not have mobility. We divided ourselves into 3
teams, each covering a section of the district. We flagged off in 3 vehicles from Butterworth in the morning and
the day ended at 8pm with the last home back in Butterworth. Distance covered – 157 km – through paddy
bunds, narrow village roads and footwork administering the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. Our contribution to
Corporate Social Responsibility

Vaccination at home Covering the miles in my car Packing the vaccines
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As The Saying Goes………

Dr. KK Debnath, ENT

As the saying goes, ―Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth‖. I learned this adage during my early years of secondary
school but still, I find it useful to remember.
Is it true that many cooks always spoil a good dish? Of course not, sometimes they can certainly entertain us
with an excellent dish. Usually, we employ many cooks to create something great so that we can be benefitted
from its fruitful outcome. If we fail to achieve that outcome, it is then nothing but just a disappointing
experience of wasting our valuable resources.
However, it might be, sometimes, more difficult to come to a decision when the cooks are ‗too many‘ or ‗too-
talented‘ because they may want to show or establish their individual decisions, talents, and strategies very
differently, chaotically, and often, uncompromisingly.
It might be, sometimes, more difficult to come to a decision when the cooks are over-talented because they want
to show or establish their individual decisions, talents, and strategies very differently and often,
uncompromisingly. It might be due to their high subjective bias (ego) from which they do not want to move out
lest their intellect loses superiority or gets seemingly insulted. It would be certainly welcoming if all the egos
can meet together on to a common platform; but if not, in that case, some of the egos must need to be
compromised or sacrificed to reach a consensus. In doing so, we need to develop mutual respect for each other
and a sense of responsibility towards solving a problem. And only then, we will be able to forge a unified
approach among all the cooks to prevent spoiling the broth.
Two kinds of problems may arise whilst dealing with a collective interest. One, lacking in a required number of
cooks; and secondly, failing to reach a consensus even though the cooks are adequately talented. It might be a
point of interest and investigation where we are lacking exactly and from which contextual perspective.
Currently, a giant gathering is taking place in Scotland involving a large number of top leaders of the world.
The whole world is now looking at them how they can cook their best dishes to serve the world community.
They can make it or not, we have no other choice than to rely on them because they are the only representatives
appointed by the world community to make all these policy-making decisions.
Unfortunately, we have already received a piece of bad news. The leaders have failed to come to a consensus
with regard to controlling their fossil fuel production which is required to fulfill their ambitions on climate
including net-zero commitments. Obviously, it is not a good message for our future generations. We are not
sure to what extent they will be successful to take care of our offspring which is largely depending on their
abilities to reach a consensus. If they fail, we have nothing to say – we are helpless people – very common –
very ordinary. However, we have high hope; they are our respectable leaders, and we have to rely on them – we
must look forward.
We understand, there are many limitations. Leaders might have their own domestic pressure and commitments.
Many leaders may find it difficult to comply with the recommendations to keep their economy stable. But we
must keep in mind that we may need to sacrifice some of our personal/national interest (but not always) for the
greater interest of saving this earth.
It is already late! America's climate envoy John Kerry has expressed his concern as well as hope in this way
that the climate change summit in Glasgow (COP26) is the "last best hope for the world to get its act together".
This is obviously a reactive response to a badly affected climate change that we have already been experiencing.
We have already missed out on our proactive phase when it was possible to do something better to avoid this
change. The same mistake we have again made in the case of covid-19 – a failure to act in a proactive way.
Slow response and lack of confidence have taken a lot from us. One after another such disappointing failures
are now threatening our human existence.
We must need a boost to our moral strength and confidence at this moment.
Let this Diwali enlighten our mind and soul with the light that will empower us to do all those great things we
need to save this earth.

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How Covid-19 Affected Our Lifestyles?

Authors: Amrita Preet Kaur Dhillon, Au Yi Syuen, Cheong Wen Jie, Danyasrii Mathivanan, Hanuja
Suntharam, Kalvena Murugan, Kweh Ting Min, Rathigeswary Santhanam

MBBS Year 3 Group A

Eating habits
One of the main changes in life during Covid-19 pandemic wass of course the movement control order (MCO).
MCO placed a huge challenge for everyone to conduct their daily activities including taking their meals. In
Malaysia, it is currently our third MCO since the pandemic started. Everyone started to change their eating
habits due to the MCO. During MCO, due to the control of movement and the fear of the disease, many people
have decided to cook their own meals everyday. Most of them choose to buy fresh groceries maybe once or
twice a week and cook for themselves and their family. It was a good change, not only that there could be a
great reduction in unnecessary shopping but, it also encouraged people to eat more healthy. Home-cooked food
is said to be more healthy as we tend to cut down on the salt, sugar, oil and most importantly MSGs in our food.
However, there is a minority group that began to call for food delivery for convenience or unavailability of a
proper kitchen or equipment. In this case, there is a higher chance that they would order fast foods such as
McDonalds, KFC, Texas Chicken etc. There could also be healthy food delivery services, but that would likely
depend on the choices that were made.

Physical activity and well-being
The global outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in closure of gyms, stadiums, pools, dance and fitness studios,
physiotherapy centres, parks and playgrounds. Many individuals were therefore not able to actively participate
in their regular individual or group sporting or physical activities outside of their homes. Under such conditions,
many tend to be less physically active, have longer screen time, irregular sleep patterns as well as worse diets,
resulting in weight gain and loss of physical fitness. Low-income families are especially vulnerable to negative
effects of stay at home rules as they tend to have sub-standard accommodations and more confined spaces,
making it difficult to engage in physical exercise. The WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or
75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. The benefits of such periodic exercise are proven
very helpful, especially in times of anxiety, crisis and fear. There are concerns therefore that, in the context of
the pandemic, lack of access to regular sporting or exercise routines may result in challenges to the immune
system, physical health, including by leading to the commencement of or exacerbating existing diseases that
have their roots in a sedentary lifestyle. Lack of access to exercise and physical activity can also have mental
health impacts, which can compound stress or anxiety that many will experience in the face of isolation from
normal social life. Possible loss of family or friends from the virus and impact of the virus on one‘s economic
wellbeing and access to nutrition will exacerbate these effects.

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For many, exercising at home without any equipment and limited space can still be possible. For those whose
home life can involve long periods of sitting, there may be options to be more active during the day, for
example by stretching, doing housework, climbing stairs or dancing to music. In addition, particularly for those
who have internet access, there are many free resources on how to stay active during the pandemic. Physical
fitness games, for example, can be appealing to people of all ages and be used in small spaces. Another
important aspect of maintain physical fitness is strength training which does not require large spaces but helps
maintain muscle strength, which is especially important for older persons or persons with physical disabilities.
The global community has adapted rapidly by creating online content tailored to different people; from free
tutorials on social media, to stretching, meditation, yoga and dance classes in which the whole family can
participate. Educational institutions are providing online learning resources for students to follow at home.
Many fitness studios are offering reduced rate subscriptions to apps and online video and audio classes of
varying lengths that change daily. There are countless live fitness demonstrations available on social media
platforms. Many of these classes do not require special equipment and some feature everyday household objects
instead of weights.
Such online offerings can serve to increase access to instructors or classes that would otherwise be inaccessible.
However, access to such resources is far from universal, as not everyone has access to digital technologies. For
individuals in poorer communities and in many developing countries, access to broadband Internet is often
problematic or non-existent. The digital divide has thus not only an impact on distance banking, learning or
communication, but also on benefitting from accessing virtual sport opportunities. Radio and television
programmes that activate people as well as distribution of printed material that encourages physical activity are
crucial in bridging the digital divide for many households living in precarious conditions. Young people are
particularly affected by social and physical distancing, considering sport is commonly used as a tool to foster
cooperation and sportsmanship, promote respectful competition, and learn to manage conflict. Without sport,
many young people are losing the support system that such participation provided. Currently some
organizations, and schools have begun using virtual training as a method for leagues, coaches and young people
to remain engaged in sport activities while remaining in their homes.
The benefits of physical activity and exercise have been demonstrated across the lifespan. We are meant to
move and many of our body‘s systems work better when we are consistently physically active. For managing
symptoms of depression, some research suggests that elevated levels of aerobic activity (exercise that
significantly raises our heart rates) may be associated with greater reductions in depressive symptoms. Consider
engaging in physical activity once or twice daily that includes brief periods (30-90 seconds) of greater intensity.
For some, this might be accomplished through exercise in their homes including jumping jacks, mountain
climbers, and sequencing strength training exercises (i.e. standing squats, push-ups, sit-ups). For others, the use
of home exercise equipment such as treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes may be helpful.
Strength-training has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety for individuals with and without an anxiety
disorder. Weightlifting using exercise equipment or household items (textbooks, canned goods, milk jugs filled
with water, paint cans) may help us to reduce the negative effects of stress and anxiety.
For children and adolescents, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and exercise during the day are associated
with elevations in self-esteem, improved concentration, reductions in depressive symptoms, and improvements
in sleep. For older adults and among individuals managing chronic medical conditions, regular walks are
recommended. The benefits of strength training and weightlifting (low weight with high numbers of repetitions)
may be even greater in older adults to maintain quality of life and functioning.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (such as speed-walking or jogging) has been shown to help reduce the
use of alcohol and other substances. Additionally, participation in regular physical activity is shown to boost the
immune system. Reduction in substance use is also associated with improvement in the body‘s ability to fight
off infection. Many companies are offering free use of their on-line platforms that may help to identify a variety
of in-home activities (indoor cycling, treadmill running, dance cardio, yoga, strength training, and more) to help
make exercise more enjoyable during this critical period. We strongly support the idea of ongoing vigilance
regarding physical-distancing and limitations on in-person contacts as guided by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention We recommend finding physical activities that you enjoy and to share your experience
with others. At the same time, there is also evidence to suggest that exercise can be helpful to mood even if the
act of doing the exercise is not as enjoyable. It is important for family members to take a supportive role in the

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promotion of physical activity and exercise. Allowing individuals to maintain their autonomy and choice in
their activities will be important for ongoing engagement. We are all managing additional stress related to the
growth of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential to threaten the health of ourselves, our families, and our
communities. Please consider using physical activity and exercise as a strategy to maintain health during this
stressful period. Although many things feel beyond our control right now, we do have the ability to be creative
and to build physical activity and exercise into each of our days. We may even look back on this difficult time
as the turning point when we learned new ways to build our emotional resilience and our physical health.

Online shopping
Online shopping is the ‗New Normal‘ in Malaysia. Malaysia‘s movement control order (MCO) might just have
changed the face of e-commerce in the country for good. With travel restrictions, where people are not allowed
to go out except for the basic needs, there is a corresponding surge in online shopping. As the MCO brought
most physical businesses to a halt, consumers progressively started online purchasing, through websites, mobile
applications and social media. The surge in purchases of online goods appears that consumers‘ conduct has
changed as physical shopping can be a hassle due to the long lines at general stores and safety measures taken to
anticipate the spread of COVID-19. Food delivery has the highest demand in online shopping, such as
Foodpanda, Grabfood, Smartbite, etc. Since dining-in restaurants or eateries were not allowed during the MCO,
customers were allowed to order their food for takeaway or deliveries only. In order to reduce movement
outside home, people tend to order food via deliveries, which is considered to be safer with contactless delivery.
The other top items purchased during the survey period include electrical goods, electronics, fashion, health and
beauty items as well as home and lifestyle products. Shopee is the top platform for online purchases during the
MCO, with Grab Food coming in second and Lazada a close third. When it came to purchases on social media
platforms, Facebook and Instagram were the kings. People love online shopping way more than conventional
shopping due to its convenience and choices. Online shops give us the opportunity to shop 24/7, and also
reward us with a ‗no pollution‘ shopping experience. There is no better place to buy informational products like
e-books, which are available instantly, as soon as the payment goes through. The choices online are amazing.
One can get several brands and products from different sellers all in one place. Apart from that, the stock is
much more plentiful. Some online shops even have provisions in place to accept orders for items out of stock
and ship it when the stock becomes available.

Disruption of events
The Covid 19 pandemic has affected many events, causing them to be postponed or even cancelled. This is
mainly to avoid large gatherings and spreading of viruses in crowds. One of the most outreach events is the
2020 Summer Olympics. It was initially scheduled to be held from 24 July to 9 August 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
However, due to the alarming impact of Covid 19 pandemic, the Tokyo organiser has announced the
postponement of the event to 23 July to 8 August 2021. According to an estimate conducted by professor
emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University and reported by the NHK, the cost of delaying the 2020
Olympics by one year will be 640.8 billion yen (24.2 billion ringgit malaysia), taking maintenance expenditures
for the unused facilities into account. On the other hand, a complete cancellation would cost Japan 4.52 trillion
yen (170.8 billion ringgit malaysia), based on operating expenses and loss of tourism activity. In Malaysia,
several major sporting events have also been wrecked by this highly infectious virus, impeding the development
of many athletes, some who were hoping to make it to the Olympics by participating in local and international
competitions. Events like Federal Territories Kuala Lumpur Amateur Athletics Association (FTKLAAA) Open,
FINA Diving GP Malaysia League and Malaysian Open have been postponed, cancelled or suspended due to
Covid 19. Besides, a summit of South-east Asian and other international leaders (ASEAN summit) scheduled in
Vietnam early April 2021 has also been postponed until end-June 2021 due to the covid 19 pandemic. However,
as the disease condition is still unstable in some member countries, the director of ASEAN cooperation, Jose
Tavarens, has announced that the meeting will be converted to online virtual mode on 26th June 2021.

Addiction to online and video games
We are no longer strangers to the effects of the COVID pandemic that has plagued the entire world since 2020.
Since schools and most companies have resorted to the online mode, students and employees spend their time

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day in and day out facing their laptops, surfing the net. The lockdown has restricted movements, making it
impossible for social gatherings, even in front of one‘s own house. For some people, not leaving the house may
be a blessing in disguise but for the rest, constantly being within the four walls of their house may seem to be
stressful. So what do they do to relieve their stress? One option that many people find helpful is playing online
or video games. This mainly includes people between the ages of 9 and 40. Even though online and video
games have always been there pre-Covid, currently, we can see a significant rise in the number of people
addicted to these games. Research shows that video games are designed to entice players to play them. The
most addictive video games include massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) and role-playing games
(RPGs). MMOs can be addictive since individuals can comfortably interact with numerous people in a
collaborative and competitive setting. RPGs are addictive since individuals can role play another life that they
may be envious of or desire. As a cherry on top, there are some games that include both these elements and they
are known as MMORPGs.
Some of the most addictive video games played today are Fortnite, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Call
of Duty and Assassin‘s Creed. Sounds familiar? In our own homes or maybe someone we know is addicted to
these games. They stay up all night playing these games and the next day, they do not have the required energy
to work in their best capacity. But what happens at the end of the day? The cycle just repeats. This is called
addiction. They dwell in these games so much that they find solace by playing these games. Clearly, this Covid
pandemic did no good in helping curb the pre-existing curve of online and video games addiction. It has done
more damage than good as now, the effects of gaming are more apparent than ever, since free time and the
required gadgets are always at hand. The short term effects are insomnia, fatigue, sleepiness and disruption in
eating habits. People may also isolate themselves and miss out on opportunities, leading to poor social skills.
Besides that, there is an increased risk of seizures due to the flashing and fast-paced images, other than
deteriorating eyesight. Long term effects include a downfall in one‘s academic, career and also financial
success. Another concerning effect is social anxiety. Gaming enables people to connect with others without
having to physically communicate with them. As people are becoming more comfortable interacting virtually
through their avatars, they tend to become more anxious in regards to real-life interactions, causing further
isolation and increased gaming. It is indeed a worrisome scenario that we have to act upon before the damage
becomes too big to be reversed.

Comparing lifestyles on social media.
The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has caused an unexpected turnabout in the lives of many in our country.

Movement control order or MCO as it is famously known, saw our country going into a lockdown for the very
first time in June 2020. Consequently, this resulted in people being cooped up in their homes from sunrise to
sunset, having very little activities to engage in besides working from home, cooking, cleaning, looking after the
kids, watching the television and repeating this cycle for the remaining duration of the lockdown. Although this
may sound ideal to homebound individuals, for the rest of the population, it resulted in the obsessive need to
compare lifestyles on social media. Social media envy includes things like seeing people with an extensive
following with close to perfection posts, thousands of comments and likes. This envy can happen with our
friends, people we look up to, the rich, famous and celebrities. One of the reasons why this activity has become
a daily routine during the pandemic is because of the extra time in our hands, which causes us to scroll through
social media, be it Instagram, Facebook or Twitter more often than usual. While social media does paint a pretty
picture of people's lives, it also portrays an unreasonable and unattainable picture that is hard to live up to.
When individuals view this ‗perfect life‘, it causes them to question their own lifestyle, criticizing their own
life, wishing and hoping it was better, eventually causing them anxiety and depression.

The sheer intensity of this downside of social media during the pandemic has even resulted in people opting to
burn a hole in their pocket or worse borrow money from illegal moneylenders, all in the name of getting a new
gadget, new clothes and new furniture. This is done to keep up with the trend and flaunt it to people on social
media. Although, this may make them feel better for a little while, since their lives are now up to date with
trendsetters, it still cannot fill the hollow feeling afterwards due to the large amount of money spent on
unnecessary things. Lastly, spending too much time on social media comparing one‘s life to another may also
cause people to suffer from body image issues. On the internet, we are always pushed with somebody‘s idea or

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image of a perfect individual, with the right curves, height, weight, build, complexion and features. This could
potentially lead to body dysmorphia if one does not realize that not everything you see online is real.

Emotional bonding strengthened in families during Covid
Our world has been confronted with many challenges, such as economic hardships, famine, and wars, among
many others. However, in recent time, Coronavirus or better known as COVID-19 has threatened the existence
of humanity on the surface of the earth than never before. This disease has brought almost every human activity
to a halt in the world; be it business and economics, church and religious activities, academic works just to
name a few. As a result of this turn of the world event, people from all walks of life are advised to stay at home
to prevent the spread of this viral disease. This is technically known as ‗Lock Down‘; to wit, restricted
movement of people and social distancing. One very important aspect of human life that has drawn the attention
of many people as result of this pandemic leading to a ‗Lock Down‘ is family life. The question that many
people ask today is how will this situation impact on family life? It is a forgone conclusion that a lot has
changed in the context of the family over the years and a lot keeps changing in the present and a lot may change
in the future for better or for worse depending on how the family situation is managed in this period of a
pandemic. We may admit that in as much as has been appreciated with regard to family life, much has also been
taken for granted over the years. Family life is the cradle for human existence, social relationship, human
development and sustenance. Hence, its importance cannot be overemphasized without the succinct scheme for
its sustenance and continuity for the future. It is said that the ‗family that learn to stay together live together‘.
This statement means a lot, especially in moments like this when coronavirus has kept many people at home.
One very important reason for spending time together is about bonding. In this current situation, the presence of
parents (couples) with or without children at home create the opportunity for the family to carry out different
activities together such as watching movies together, gardening, participating in indoor games and praying
together. This aspect of family life helps to make members feel secure, united and closer emotionally to each
other, thereby creating the dynamics such as cohesion that is needed to forge ahead in terms of growth and
development. The time also serves as an opportunity for strengthening interpersonal relationship in the family.
Family members get to know each other better at the behavioral and emotional level. In the sense that activities
and works outside home which have taken this essential aspect away, is no more there as usual. Many parents
(couples) spend a greater part of their time at work, they hardly have time to know each other. In this way there
are many things that even parents (couples) do not know about one another. The current situation therefore sets
the ambience for family members to get closer to each other, to know and appreciate the effort of one another.
In addition, many parents (couples) try to play it safe by using work to cover up for certain responsibilities or
problems. In such a time of a pandemic, one cannot but confront issues that have been covered and try to find
solution to those problems.
Besides, this period also gives children the opportunity to discover their parents better. In the sense that there is
ample time for the children to engage their parents in interaction (physically and emotionally) while parents at
the same time get to know their own children better with regards to the values they have acquire from homes
and those that they are bringing in from the outside world (schools); and how those values have influenced and
keep influencing the behaviour pattern of the children. This dynamics give the family the opportunity to know
how those values can bring about resistance owing to the fact that, they may become new and foreign to the
family and how it should be managed to bring the acceptable changes in the family leading to growth and
development as well as effective and positive communication in order to lessen violence and conflicts in family
life. Thus, one other benefit that the family can derive from the situation of this pandemic is the benefit of good
and effective communication. The current condition in the world will afford the family the opportunity to grow
healthy, because of effective and deep communication which creates a conducive environment for members to
share their experiences with one another, express their feelings openly and work towards achieving their
collective goal as a unit. It affords parents to understand the language of their children better. Effective
communication also gives members ample time and desire to receive constructive feedback and concrete
criticisms that bring about development and growth not without resistance, owing to different personality that
form the family. It will also help members to understand each other better. Besides, the means of
communication will have an influence on the subsystem of the family on how to abandon and renounce certain
old and rigid way of functioning to embracing a more flexible and enhance means further going forward. For

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instance, how parents are able to drop the mentality of sole controllers of family actions and inactions (master -
servant relationship) to learning new ways of reasoning with their children whom they have not had a closer
relationship with for a long time. This gives each member the needed advantage to understand the basic mode
of communication in the family, be it semiotic or verbal depending on the situation that pans out in family life.
Furthermore, one aspect that will benefit family life in this moment of crisis is the value of love. As a result of
spending quality time together, the family at this time may select activities that may promote love and
togetherness, especially among parents as more important than all other things. Parents will be able to integrate
their love for each other and in doing so they extend it to their children. This improves the level of happiness,
harmony and positive growth in the family. The expression of love can take many forms, such as nurturance and
altruism, whereby parents demonstrate actions that make children feel that they are loved and appreciated in the
family. For example, it could take a form of complimenting the little effort of children these days at home. It
makes them feel good and affords them the opportunity to learn how to appreciate and accentuate the positive
side of other people in their social relationship. In the same vein, parents themselves can complement the efforts
of each other while spending quality time together. This goes a way further to promote healthy living.

What to do to keep yourself and others safe from Covid-19
● Maintain at least a 1-metre distance between yourself and others to reduce your risk of infection when
they cough, sneeze or speak. Maintain an even greater distance between yourself and others when indoors. The
further away, the better.
● Make wearing a mask a normal part of being around other people. The appropriate use, storage and
cleaning or disposal are essential to make masks as effective as possible.
Here are the basics of how to wear a mask:
● Clean your hands before you put your mask on, as well as before and after you take it off, and after you
touch it at any time.
● Make sure it covers both your nose, mouth and chin.
● When you take off a mask, store it in a clean plastic bag, and every day either wash it if it‘s a fabric
mask, or dispose of a medical mask in a trash bin.
● Don‘t use masks with valves.
How to make your environment safer
● Avoid the 3Cs: spaces that are closed, crowded or involve close contact.
○ Outbreaks have been reported in restaurants, choir practices, fitness classes, nightclubs, offices and
places of worship where people have gathered, often in crowded indoor settings where they talk loudly, shout,
breathe heavily or sing.
○ The risks of getting COVID-19 are higher in crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces where infected
people spend long periods of time together in close proximity. These environments are where the virus appears
to spread by respiratory droplets or aerosols more efficiently, so taking precautions is even more important.
● Meet people outside. Outdoor gatherings are safer than indoor ones, particularly if indoor spaces are
small and without outdoor air coming in.
○ Avoid crowded or indoor settings but if you can‘t, then take precautions:
○ Open a window. Increase the amount of ‗natural ventilation‘ when indoors.
○ Wear a mask (see above for more details).
Don‘t forget the basics of good hygiene
● Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and
water. This eliminates germs including viruses that may be on your hands.
● Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once
contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your
body and infect you.
● Cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of
the used tissue immediately into a closed bin and wash your hands. By following good ‗respiratory hygiene‘,
you protect the people around you from viruses, which cause colds, flu and COVID-19.
● Clean and disinfect surfaces frequently especially those which are regularly touched, such as door
handles, faucets and phone screens.

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Covid’s Relation of Mental Health

MBBS Year 3 Group B

Introduction
The latest threat to global health is the ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) which was
recognized in December 2019. This new coronavirus (Covid-19), which caused an epidemic of acute respiratory
syndrome in humans, was first reported in Wuhan, China. Globally, 12 August 2021, there have been
204,644,849 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 4,323,139 deaths, reported to WHO. In Malaysia, from 3
January 2020 to 12 August 2021, there have been 1,320,547 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 11,373 deaths,
reported to WHO. Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered
coronavirus. Most people infected with the Covid-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness
and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious
illness.
Initially in the pandemic, people were afraid and worried because they did not fully understand and know about
this new viral disease. Due to the strict SOP, events and mass gathering were prohibited such as schooling,
social events, sports activities or any event that gathered people together. This dramatically affected daily life
which caused depression to the population in society. Furthermore, it was be stressful to the communities as
people were afraid of infection and also concerned that the health care system could not cope with the Covid-19
pandemic. Beside that, due to this pandemic, many people lost their family members which made them even
more miserable and emotionally unstable. Also, people worried that the global economy could become worse.
Without a doubt, depression, anxiety and stress were common mental health symptoms that occured to most of
the people in the Covid-19 pandemic situation. There has been a rise in sleep disturbances, and a critical
condition associated with anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior.
The implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia has forced many people around Malaysia
to stay at home and self-isolate for a period of time. For example, due to closing of universities, college students
were especially prone to feelings of loneliness, and they experienced higher rates of anxiety and depression
compared to the general population. Depression can be described as feelings of sadness, loss or anger that
interferes with a person‘s everyday activities. Also, people have had to work from home to follow the standard
operating procedures, or may have even lost their jobs, eventually leading to anxiety and stress.
Health-care workers (HCWs) are another segment of the population particularly affected by stress. HCWs are at
risk of developing symptoms common in catastrophic situations, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout
syndrome, physical and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and dissociation. Indeed, the medical staff at
younger ages (<30 years) reported higher self-rated depression scores and more concern about infecting their

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families than those of older age. Staff > 50 years of age reported increased stress due to patient‘s death, the
prolonged work hours, and the lack of personal protective equipment. Along with economic stress and disaster-
related instability, risk factors for aggression and domestic violence also contributed to suicidal behavior.
Impact Of Covid-19 On Mental Health
- Children And Teenagers
Due to the ongoing pandemic, schools were forced to shut down, and all learning methods had been shifted
online, and because of this, children were forced to be away from their friends and teachers. This substantial
change might have come off as a shock to younger children as they are clueless as to what was going on, and
had many questions about the outbreak, relying on their parents or even caregivers for answers. Some parents
may have explained, if patient enough to answer their children's queries. Others however, may not have done
so, and this is because not all children and parents respond to stress in the same way. Kids can experience
anxiety, distress and social isolation, but that‘s not all. Kids who grew up in an abusive home environment
suffered the greatest and this might lead to short term or long term side effects on their mental health.
Here are some common changes in children‘s behavior:-
- Perpetual crying and annoying behavior
- Increased sadness, depression and worry
- Changes in, or avoiding activities that they enjoyed in the past
- Unexpected headache and pain throughout their bodies
- Change in eating habits.
To help offset negative behavior, parents could take some time to talk to their children about the Covid-19
outbreak and share some positive facts, figures and information. Parents need to reassure children that they are
safe at home and encourage them to engage in some healthy activities.
- Elders And People With Disabilities At Risk
Elders and immunocompromised people are more prime to the COVID-19 outbreak due to both clinical and
social reasons such as having a weaker immune system or other underlying health conditions and distancing
from their families and friends due to their busy schedule. Studies and personal observation stated that persons
above 60 are more likely to get the SARS-CoV-2 and can develop serious and life-threatening conditions even
if they are in good health. Some elders, tend to be a recluse and live by themselves. In addition, to physical
distancing due to COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact that people were not allowed to visit each other, could have
had negative ramifications on their mental health of the elderly and differently abled individuals. Elderly people
tend to depend on young ones for their daily needs, and because of self-isolation it could really critically
damage a family system. The elderly people who were living in nursing homes could also face extreme mental
health issues which may lead them to becoming anxious, depressed and even stressed, as visitors were not
allowed. Family members may witness any of the following changes to the behavior of older relatives, some of
those may include
- Irritating and shouting behavior
- Change in their sleeping and eating habits
- Emotional outbursts
The WHO suggests that family members should regularly check on older people living within their homes and
at nursing facilities.
- Healthcare Workers
Healthcare workers (HCWs), at the heart of the unparalleled crisis of COVID-19, faced challenges treating
patients with COVID-19: reducing the spread of infection; developing suitable short-term strategies; and
formulating long-term plans. HCWs had to also continue to successfully treat non-COVID patients and
maintain personal responsibilities, including taking care of their families and themselves. The psychological
burden and overall wellness of HCWs has received heightened awareness, with research continuing to show
high rates of burnout, psychological stress, and suicide. HCWs experiencing emotional exhaustion, could lead
to medical errors and lack of empathy in treating patients. The ability of HCWs to adequately cope with stress
was important for their patients, their families, and themselves. Providers vary in levels of psychological
resilience, the ability to positively adapt to adversity to protect themselves from stress. Prior to COVID-19,
wide-ranging research had established the multifactorial nature of stressors in healthcare: electronic health
record duties; insurance and billing issues; patient dissatisfaction; and balancing busy work-life schedules.

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According to a source in MalaysiaKini, healthcare workers – doctors, nurses and other medical support staff
which ―among the most psychologically resilient groups of people‖ are not spared the risk of severe
psychological trauma due to the ongoing crisis. The Mercy Malaysia executive council member says healthcare
workers, who are already experiencing daily stresses – many beyond their control – may begin developing
physical and psychological fatigue, or burnout. ―They may develop a sense of disillusionment and resentment
and start questioning their roles and their effectiveness in keeping the nation safe. And if these are not
addressed, more serious mental health issues will develop.‖ What is more worrying is that they may begin to
make mistakes that could harm themselves or the people they are caring for.
- Civilians
Malaysians have faced many mental health issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic such as stress, depression
and anxiety. The factors that led to mental illness are the loss of loved ones, new COVID-19 variants, loss of
jobs and income, loss of housing, ongoing financial distress and family issues arising from long isolation.
Although the current administration has introduced an additional RM150 bil worth of Pemulih (People‘s
Protection and Economic Recovery Package) on June 28, the extension of the country lockdown from June 28
onwards continues to raise concerns for the low-income groups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and
youths. This is especially true for the hardcore poor and B40 households, who can‘t afford to put food on the
table. However, as Malaysia‘s job market comprises mostly semi-skilled and low-skilled jobs, aspiring
university graduates and fresh graduates would still find it difficult in securing a decent job with decent pay
during this health crisis. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia‘s (DOSM) Employment Statistics
First Quarter 2021, 62.4 per cent are semi-skilled jobs while 13.1 per cent are low-skilled jobs.
Although the work-from-home (WFH) concept has become common during this new normal nowadays,
employees might have no idea of the appropriate timing to switch off after work. WFH could blur the line
between work life and personal life, according to the clinical psychologist Lum Khay Xian of the Relate Mental
Health Malaysia. As the employees have to meet increasing demands from employers by sacrificing their
leisure activities in the WFH environment, longer working hours would ultimately result in more stress,
compromised quality of sleep, depression, anxiety, diabetes and heart disease.

Black& White flags

White flags:
In Malaysia, some residents of low-income families have started waving white flags as part of the so-called
―White Flag Campaign‖, or the #benderaputih (white flag) movement. They are doing this to convey distress
about the financial crunch they have had to deal with amid the lockdowns due to Covid-19. Malaysia enforced
another lockdown on June 1 in order to control another surge of Covid infections. As part of the movement that
was initiated in September 2021, families that are facing hunger or need any other kind of assistance are
encouraged to wave a white flag or put a piece of white cloth outside their homes to signal that they need help.
The idea is that by spotting the white flag, neighbours and good samaritans can reach them. On the Sambal SOS
app, which was initially called the Bendera Putih app, people can see the map of Malaysia where active food
banks are marked. This is to help people easily track down food banks. Some fishermen from Penang are also
helping out the community by handing over fresh fish to families in need.
Black Flags:
Young people are being hit hard by the pandemic. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, the situation was difficult
for them. The unemployment rate is high among young graduates and the few jobs available are often low-
skilled. With the pandemic, the situation has deteriorated further. The majority of young people have lost their
jobs. Students found themselves isolated and compelled to take their courses online, noting strong psychological
distress. In the protests, in addition to their political demands, some young people demanded a freeze on student
loan repayments. Several NGOs have flagged waves of suicides on university campuses, in a country where
attempting to end one's life is still considered illegal. According to the newspaper "Free Malaysia Today,"
police recorded 468 suicides as of July 1, compared to 631 for all of 2020. Anti-Vaccine Health organizations,
doctors, and scientists agree that vaccines are safe and effective. Despite this, there is a growing movement of
parents and caregivers choosing not to vaccinate their children. Anti-vaccination myths are almost certainly
contributing to this trend. Many health organizations advise that children receive vaccinations for their

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individual health and for the health of others. If vaccinations caused more harm than good, they would revise
their advice. Another common anti-vaccination group says that vaccines can overwhelm a child‘s immune
system.
In fact, the opposite is true. Vaccines expose the body‘s immune system to small, weakened versions of a
disease. This process prompts the body to produce antibodies to fight off the infection, teaching the immune
system how to fight off the disease.
Microchips. Magnets. ―Mark of the beast.‖ Those are just some of the things that U.S. anti-vaccine warriors
have falsely claimed Covid-19 shots contain. That same disinformation is now spreading halfway around the
world, sparking fear and endangering millions in Southeast Asia, where the virus still rages.
From Thailand to the Philippines, parts of the population are reluctant to take Covid-19 shots. That‘s worrisome
for a region where tens of thousands of new infections are still being reported daily, partly due to more
transmissible variants, and where inoculation has been sluggish, mainly due to shortages after rich nations
snapped up stock.

Suicide rate (Global vs Malaysia)

Malaysia
However it is not the case in Malaysia. Malaysia sees a rise in suicides and calls to helplines amid Covid-19
pandemic. The police recorded 468 suicides in the first five months of 2021, compared to 631 in 2020, and 609
in 2019. Abdul Jalil Hassan, director of Bukit Aman Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said that from
2019 to May 2021, at least 281 men and 1,427 women committed suicide with 872 between 15 and 18 years
old. By state, Johor recorded the highest number of suicides in 2019 and 2020 with 101 cases, while Selangor
registered the most cases this year as of May with 117 cases. The three main causes cited were family problems,
emotional pressure and finances. Emotional support help centre Befrienders Kuala Lumpur recorded 20,575
calls from January to June this year, compared to 32,710 for the whole of last year.
When the first lockdown began in March last year, lasting until June, some 9,754 calls were received. This year,
a total of 14,136 calls were made to the Befrienders during the same period, marking a 45 per cent surge.

How To Overcome It?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on our lives. Many of us are facing challenges that can be
stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as social
distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they can make us feel isolated and lonely and
can increase stress and anxiety. Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you
care about, and those around you become more resilient. Healthy ways to overcome those mental psychology
problems like taking breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social
media. It‘s good to be informed, but hearing about the pandemic constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting
news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.

Secondly, take care of your body. Eat healthy and take well balanced meals, exercise regularly, get plenty of
sleep, avoid alcohol, tobacco smoke. Also, make some time to unwind by trying to do activities that we enjoy.
Furthermore, Connect with others. Even though we are urged to stay at home, we can still talk to other people
like friends and family through video calls online. In the family role, when family relationships are stable and
supportive, a person suffering from mental health issues or disorders may be more responsive to treatment.
Parents can give more care and support to their children to prevent stress and depression.

Make a personal financial plan. If the pandemic has stretched our expenses, reduced our income or left us
unsure about job prospects, this uncertainty can take a toll on our mental health. Plan finances, including
making sure we get any benefits we are entitled to and getting help without risks of debt. Staying in a stable
financial position is incredibly protective to our wellbeing.

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The Covid-19 Pandemic-A Student’s View

MBBS Year 3 Group C

The Covid-19 Pandemic started in early 2020, in the city of Wuhan, China. Though the causes of this pandemic
still debated and investigation still continue, the lives of everyone in all parts of the world were affected.
Despite living in a world of advance healthcare technologies, many countries, developed or otherwise, were
caught unprepared, either due to underestimating the pandemic, or negligence and incompetence of their
leaders. Now, more than a year has passed and we still live in the world of Covid-19. Everyone had to adapt to a
new lifestyle, living in the global pandemic. For us, living, working and studying in Universities, our lives are
similarly affected especially on the financial expect.

For the students, their studies as well as their everyday lives changed dramatically. Some were able to
go home, while others were left stuck in their dormitory or apartments. The lecturers as well were similarly
affected with some stuck in different states, others in different country altogether. Face to face classes were
suspended while theory classes were conducted online via an application call Zoom. This meant that for
medical students, practical classes were suspended as well as hospital visits until further notice. This created
setbacks for many students, and some had to delay their studies and even graduation date. Meanwhile, on the
topic of online studies, there are separate opinion on them. Some prefer them while others think they are
insufficient. More than that, even their parents have conflicted opinions on this topic.

Daily expenses had increased in the past year, particularly for students who were stuck far away from
home. Due to the ban on dining in at eateries and restaurants, many had to spend more on food deliveries,
particularly those that had no capabilities to travel by themselves due to Covid restrictions. In addition, for those

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stuck at home, electricity bills showed a trend of increasing throughout the year in many households. Not only
had many to stay at home due to safety reasons, but the government had enforced travel restriction, particularly
to and from areas affected heavily by Covid. Students from Sarawak wanting to return home also needed to take
account of the increase in the price of flight fares from peninsular Malaysia to eastern Malaysia. This was due to
the ban on international travel causing the rise of the standard price of flight tickets, in order to compensate their
losses to avoid going into bankruptcy.

Economy sectors of Malaysia have taken a great beating throughout the pandemic. The pandemic has
weakened Malaysia‘s economy, with many shop and businesses forced to close down, particularly businesses
that provided services such as restaurants and barber shops etc. Many other businesses also took a huge hit due
to the disruption of their supply chain, leading to a case of massive layoffs and scarcity of employment. This
ranged from the agriculture sector all the way to the technology industry, due to travel restriction severely
disrupting the chain of supply and leading to demands not being met, which lead to price hikes in certain
sectors.

One of the main concerns for a university student currently are regarding to their tuition fee. As medical
student, the tuition fee tends to be higher than most, however due to covid the means to pay these tuition fee
becomes a complex issue to some. Covid has left some parents to be financially unstable, particularly due to
travel restriction and other covid restriction. Some had to take pay-cuts, forced to take unpaid leave, with some
extreme cases leading them to become jobless, or at least having no source of income. Some universities, for
their part are more than willing to accommodate students that are struggling to pay their tuition, particularly
those affected heavily from covid pandemic. Yet this issue becomes a burden of stress to the students which
added to many other issues they face in the pandemic world.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health issues too are regarded as a pandemic in the modern
world with people of all ages from young to old suffering some kind of mental health issues. When the Covid-
19 came, the mental issues took a turn for the worse, especially after many were stuck at home, inside for a
long period of time. At first, people believed that only the extrovert are affected but time prove the wrong when
after a year living with Covid-19, even the introverts started to break down. All throughout the world, issues of
depression and domestic abuses become more and more common occurrence. Not helping the issue are that
people are having a hard time entertaining themselves due to the many Covid-19 restriction. In addition, with
many having to take pay-cuts or losing their jobs and loss their source of income, the burden on their mental
health lead to many having anxiety, stress and severe depression.

However, not all is bleak in this world. With the vaccination program going smoothly, soon we may be
able to claim some semblance of normal lives. This does not mean that we may lax in our guard against this
disease, we must adapt to a new lifestyle altogether since many scientists agree that Covid-19 is here to stay.
Thus, both AIMST staff and students need to quickly adapt to this new way of life and figure out how to move
forward together.

In the nutshell, we all must do whatever we can and have to adapt and move forward. While the road
ahead is rocky and muddy, by our strength and perseverance we may succeed in achieving our desired outcome.
Though we may have different destinations, we walk the same road, and we do not have to walk this road alone.

28

MBBS Year 3 Group D

MBBS Year 3 Group E

29

MBBS Year 3 Group F

30

MBBS Year3 Group G

1. Tan Li Ying (M17090887)
2. Kaetana Kalai Vanan (M17091011)
3. Daniel Sih Ren Kai (M18090958)
4. Buventaran Ragu (M17090998)
5. Shasvini Kunaranjan (M17091010)
6. Vrndha Govindasamy( M17090961)
7. Dinesh Kamaleswaran (M18090916)
8. Avinaash Devraj (M18090896)

31

Impacts Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Students, Workers And Public

Sin Yi Zhen

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) started in China in December 2019. In Malaysia, the
Covid-19 case was first reported January 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a pandemic on
11 March 2020. In order to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission and also to flatten then Covid-19 curve,
Malaysia Government declared ―Movement Control Order (MCO)‖ on 18 March 2020. Since then until today,
the government policy is keep changing for better controlling the disease and the number of Covid-19 cases is
still fluctuating.
Covid-19 pandemic has huge impacts on everyone from various aspects. Different measurements were carried
out to prevent the transmission of disease such as wearing mask, social distancing, no dine-in allowed, no
interstate travel, workers have to work from home and online classes are conducted for students. No doubts,
face to face and practical classes is the most effective way for learning, since students the classes has converted
into online mode, there are a lot of distraction and internet connection problems. The online mode restricts the
effectiveness of learning process, and so students suffer from stress, anxiety and loss of confidence on what
have learned. All the educational schedule has been delayed which included the SPM, SPM results released
date, intake for university and collages also the graduation date. All the staff are under mental stress as meetings
were conducted again and again when the new rules and regulations released from the government, in order to
give full cooperation to the government for fighting with this pandemic at the same time have to ensure the
quality of the teaching. Finally come out with a single best decision for current situation.
Besides, there is serious socioeconomic impact from Covid-19 pandemic by the increase of unemployment rate
in our country. One of the sectors that severely impacted during this pandemic is the tourism sector. In order to
minimize the financial loss many companies forced to reduce the number of workers, due to the high expenses
with very little profit. The fresh graduate also finding difficulty to get a job offer as vacancy is reduced. Those
workers which work from home have to balance they works and family duties and so the productivity get
affected.
Nowadays, even though government has come out with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and people are
get used to it after one year of pandemic, but public also have to worry about their risk of getting Covid-19
infection as the virus keep on mutating which has a higher transmission rate and also there might have a small
portion of people do not following the SOP. In June 2021, there was no decrease in the daily total cases even
after 1 month of Full MCO. The workload of the healthcare workers have been continuously increased in this
pandemic, they have to wear the full personal protective equipment (PPE) for a very long hour to provide good
medical and also mental care for the patients and their family members. Lab services have to keep collecting
sampling and testing the samples. Policemen have to set up road blocks at the entrance points of every state and
to keep patrolling to make sure public are following the SOP. Front liners are exhausted after one year of
fighting with this pandemic.
Moreover, the Covid-19 patients are stigmatized by the public. This issue happens in school, workplace or even
on the social media. Which not only happen on the patient him or herself, it also happens to their family
members, close contact of the cases or even the colleagues which have no contact with the cases but work under
the same place. I have heard of a secondary student was criticize by the school teachers just because his parents
working under a same company but different department from the positive case, and the news had spread
among the students and teachers, which neglect the privacy and confidentiality.
All of the impacts cause various degrees of physiological issues and mental stress to the public. Covid-19 brings
huge impacts to us, but yet it reminds us to appreciate what we have, cherish the people around us, be grateful
that we are all healthy. Take this chance to enrich ourselves, enrols some online courses or develop a new
habits. Have a strong and positive mind. Stop blaming the pandemic, only those who with self-discipline able to
sustain through.
Cherish every day. Cherish every moment.
Stay healthy. Stay Safe.

32

PPE And Other Issues Faced By Healthcare Workers During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Priyya A/P U Gopi Kumar

Covid-19. A virus that took the world by storm. A virus that brought the world to a standstill for the better part
of a year. In fact, in some countries just like Malaysia, the world has not really been able to go back to normal.
We've been forced to go back to square one all over again. But amidst all the worries and complaints, we might
have overlooked the most important people in this pandemic. Our healthcare workers. Those at the frontlines.
Our first line of defence against a virus that took the world by storm. The backbone of the country in combating
a virus that has seized the lives of so many innocents.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, our healthcare workers have displayed a remarkable and incredible
amount of strength, resilience and perseverance in dedicating their lives to combat this virus while battling the
fear of contracting the virus or even spreading it to their loved ones and those around them, which has led to
many of them isolating themselves. Unfortunately, their worries don't just end there. It continues with the poor
working conditions, immense pressure from superiors, patients and family members, a lack of Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) suits, face shields and face masks, coupled with a lack of incentives as well as a
general public that underestimates the severity of the issue at hand. Despite frequent reminders of the dangers of
the pandemic, members of the public are still going out and about, refusing to comply with the safety measures
in place.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put the healthcare workers in an unprecedented situation, one where they have had
to make tough choices when it comes down to the allocation of resources that are scarce and social distancing
from their families and loved ones. Besides that, they have also had to deal with the psychological effects of the
pandemic. Healthcare workers are known to have an immense amount of emotional and mental strength as they
deal with life and death
on a daily basis. However, the psychological effect of having to treat patients with a limited amount of
resources as the number of people who contracted the virus were no longer single or double digits but were in
the hundreds and thousands is second to none. The burden of making a critical decision for their patients due to
the limited amount beds in the ICU and normal wards, ventilators and manpower would ultimately lead to
multiple mental health problems, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) being at the top of the list. Caring for
patients as well as fellow colleagues who became ill, comforting terminal patients, informing the families of
those patients, watching as the patients share a last call with their families before being intubated and having to
take the tough call of choosing which patient to prioritise when resources such as oxygen supply and ICU beds
became limited was definitely not easy. The guilt of knowing that many of these patients could have been saved
if not for a broken system is one that would play on their minds for days to come. One can only imagine the
trauma of losing patients, friends, colleagues and loved ones while battling a severe burnout as many of the
healthcare professionals are severely overworked. Besides that, many healthcare professionals are also shunned
by the general public due to the fear of contracting the virus from those who work in the healthcare setting as
they come face to face with the virus every single day. In fact, a few months ago, healthcare workers in
Singapore mentioned that many of them who use e-hailing services such as Grab found their bookings being
cancelled as many drivers do not want to pick up customers from the hospitals out of fear.
In the initial months of the pandemic, we saw a shortage in the supply of PPEs, face masks and gloves. Once
that had been resolved, it was a shortage in the number of healthcare professionals at the frontline due to which
many contract doctors whose contracts were supposed to end within a month or two of the pandemic found their
contracts being extended and being transferred to hospitals where the manpower was badly needed. Healthcare
workers in clinical settings were recruited to join teams dealing with treating patients who were infected by the
virus, both in the city and rural areas. Many of them had to leave their families with no knowledge of when they
might see them again. The specialists and doctors were flung into a setting with barely any knowledge about the
virus or any treatment related to it, which did not do much to help them. These health care professionals worked
at breakneck speed to adapt to the new working conditions while distinguishing accurate information regarding
the virus and its treatment from all the misinformation that seemed to be spreading at an alarming rate. From

33

patients who believed that the virus was a hoax and did not even exist to messages on social media talking about
home remedies and traditional medicine, our healthcare workers patiently
dealt with whatever was thrown in their paths. With outpatient clinics and elective surgeries being abruptly
stopped or postponed, our healthcare workers have had to adopt new strategies with the aid of technology to
fulfil the needs of their patients.
In addition to this, many current and future healthcare professionals who had chosen to further their studies
were forced to abandon them for a period of time in order to cater to the demands of the pandemic. This in turn
led to a loss of training opportunities, decline in clinical knowledge, loss of face to face interaction,
postponement of examinations and delayed certification as universities were forced to go hybrid and unable to
carry out their assessments as usual. Many of them lost opportunities that they waited years for while students
who had worked hard for years were forced to do without a graduation and had to sit for their examinations with
a lack of clinical exposure as hospitals had barred any physical clinical teaching in order to reduce the
transmission of the virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only snatched the lives of so many people but it has left behind scars that
might never heal in the minds and lives of people, especially our healthcare workers. Today, despite a total
lockdown for the past 40 days, the cases have reached an all-time high with the daily number of cases almost
hitting the 10000 mark. Our healthcare system is at the brink of collapsing and with the recent surge in cases, it
struggles to cope with multiple hospitals around the country going under lockdown due to the lack of beds and
oxygen supply. In many of these hospitals, healthcare professionals have put in their papers to serve their 24-
hour notice period as they are unable to cope any longer. The COVID-19 pandemic has truly proven to be
everyone‘s worst nightmare, especially for our healthcare workers who despite giving it everything they have,
cannot help but feel disheartened with the current state of affairs.

34

Health And Safety Of Covid Patient In Hospital And At Home

Chee Mei Xian

The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the globe ever since its first introduction in December 2019. Since then,
countries shut their borders and cities went into lockdown. Millions lost their livelihoods as economic activities
were brought to a standstill. However, these were only the surface; far beneath the surface, the very pillar of
hope that humanity held on to were collapsing. Medical facilities and structures globally were swarmed by the
overwhelming number of infected as healthcare workers work through seemingly endless shifts just to cope
with the rising number of infections. Hospitals were overcrowded and more governments were allowing
patients to stay home instead. Nevertheless, one would always wonder the implications and differences that
such policies would bring?

Hospitals are facilities built to accommodate and treat people that have come down with various
ailments and diseases. Everything is designed specifically to smoothen that very process. Covid-19 patients with
either serious or mild symptoms would obviously find comfort and aid in a hospital in the form of meticulous
care, breathing aids and more. However, with the rapid spread of the virus, hospitals became overwhelmed and
there simply isn‘t enough aid for everyone. Healthcare workers even had to resort to choosing between which
patients to treat as there were simply not enough hands on deck. The lack of wards and beds were so severe that
patients had to be laid on the floor while a normal 4 person ward would accommodate up to 4 times its normal
capacity. Without the proper equipment within the ICU, patients with serious symptoms would have a
significantly higher chance of mortality due to failed intubation.

The healthcare workers are the only thing standing between humanity and the incoming threat of Covid-
19. However, overcrowding of hospitals has also made it incredibly difficult to adhere to SOPs which aim to
protect the front liners from infection. When infections occur, front liners would have to be quarantined and that
results in a further decrease in the available workforce and eventually a continuous downward spiral that sees
no light. Families of the front liners would also need to be in a constant state of paranoia as the they were
exposed to a significantly higher chance of infection as compared to any of us. For example, a pregnant UiTM
Head Nurse delivered her baby just before passing on from Covid-19 complications. She battled the virus for
weeks as she was tested positive just when she was 30 weeks along.

On the subject of front liners, we often times forget that they are humans too and they suffer from the
same turmoil as us. Their mental health has really taken a hit and it just gets worse. In conjunction with the
‗Black Monday‘ campaign, contract MO‘s are protesting the system because they take home lower than their
permanent counterparts, despite doing the same amount of work. The uncertainty of their future really leaves a
lot of MO‘s in anxiety and that cannot be good for them. Hence, they are going to go on strike on 27th July if no
immediate action is taken by the government. This is a critical issue as that would indicate the complete
collapse of the healthcare system and it also violates the sacred code which are upheld by all physicians;
primum non nocere.

Although patients are more familiar with their surroundings in the comfort of their home, there really
isn‘t much benefit to quarantining at home besides the feeling of nostalgia. SOP‘s are easily breached especially
when there are multiple family members at home. Children and old people who are more susceptible to the
effects of Covid-19 are also easily affected. The economic rundown also serves little to remedy the situation,
parents with financial problems are forced to work and find means of survival where they might be further
exposed to infection and workplace clusters. Furthermore, home quarantine risks capitalize on the ignorance of
patients on adept and professional treatment to reduce the chances of mortality.

35

PPE And Related Issues During The COVID Pandemic

Chew Jie Xi

The world is in actual and virtual turmoil. COVID-19 forced us to adapt. We are now forced to adjust to the
new normal. Face masks, sanitisers, hand washing and zoom meetings are a new way of life. A lot of people
resisted, and are still resisting, but more are trying to accept this new reality. Before COVID-19, healthcare
workers only wear PPE suits on certain occasions. These suits are usually reserved for those working in
extremely dangerous conditions where the danger of infection is very likely. But for a normal hospital or clinic
work day, these were not necessary. But now, PPE suits are necessity and has become part of everyday fashion
of healthcare workers. It‘s not just in the hospital or clinic, if you‘re a company doctor or nurse, you need to
keep a couple of these suits on standby, you never know when you will have a confirmed positive case in the
workplace that you might need to transport. So, private companies are now stocking up on PPE suits, gloves,
face masks and face shields.
The amount of PPE required to keep a medical worker safe has created a physical barrier to the human
connection between patients and healthcare workers. Medical workers literally look like ―expressionless staff in
space suits.‖ With masks, goggles and face shields, patients can no longer see the warmth, smile or care from
their health providers during this already lonely experience. Patients are facing very isolating experiences when
they are admitted into the hospital, having minimal human contact and physical touch from their providers, and
much more isolation due to the ―no visitor‖ rule.
I am sure, like everything in this pandemic, we will eventually get used to it. Humans are incredibly adaptable.
But even if we get used to the visual, there are many studies to support the healing impact of human interaction
and touch. Studies have shown that health care providers can help patients heal simply by interacting with
competence and warmth. Sadly, in this pandemic, not only there is minimal touch, but patients can‘t see the
smiles or empathy of their care providers that is vital to the healing process. For COVID-19 patients needing
ICU care, a lack of human connection can have adverse effects causing them to develop post intensive-care
syndrome, which mimics PTSD with sometimes debilitating consequences. Not to mention how isolation will
bring about various health issues including chronic inflammation, high blood pressure and weakened immune
system. This is when many caring providers came up with innovative ways to strengthen human connection and
combat isolation during this pandemic- the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Portrait Project. It is a hybrid
art and medical intervention designed to improve patient care and team dynamics by humanizing the alienating
appearance of PPE, through warm, smiling, single-use shot headshot portrait fixed to the outside of a healthcare
workers‘s PPE. The PPE Portrait Project was an idea initially thought up by Mary Beth Heffernan during the
Ebola 2014 outbreak in West Africa. ―Wouldn‘t they be less frightening if the person on the inside was pictured
on the outside? ‖ she explained. That was the start of the PPE Portrait Project, which is adding immense human
connection during this isolating pandemic. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project gained
more momentum at medical centres around the world.
The photos are attached at heart level, since care comes from the heart. Human connection- in the simple form
of looking at a picture of someone you love or a kind word from a stranger can ease pain and reduce physical
symptoms of stress, further boosting the immune system. The photos not only lift patient‘s spirits, but also of
health care workers. For COVID-19 patients needing ICU care, some worry that a lack of human connection
can have adverse effects causing them to develop post intensive-care syndrome, which mimics PTSD with
sometimes debilitating consequences In short, by adding portraits to a healthcare provider‘s PPE, we can bring
some much needed expression, compassion, and humanistic connection to an otherwise scary and
overwhelming situation.
―Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that
can ever happen in war.‖- Ernest Hemingway. All of us know that we are in a middle of a war. The casualties
from this COVID-19 pandemic continues to rise and it is devastating. They say that in every dark cloud there is
a silver lining, although the pandemic is quite alarming and nerve-racking to many, I am sure that this crisis will
also pass just like every problem we have.

36

PPE & Other Issue Faced by Health Care Workers During Covid-19 Pandemic

Danalaximii A/P Ariskrishnan

Personal protective equipment is special equipment you wear to create a barrier between you and germs. This
barrier reduces the chance of touching, being exposed to, and spreading germs. Personal protective equipment
(PPE) helps prevent the spread of germs in the hospital. This can protect people and health care workers from
infections. All hospital staff, patients, and visitors should use PPE when there will be contact with blood or
other bodily fluids.

Types of PPE are like wearing gloves will protect your hands from germs and also help to reduce the spread of
germs. Other than that, masks that cover your mouth and nose. Some masks have a see-through plastic part that
covers your eyes. A surgical mask helps stop germs in your nose and mouth from spreading. It can also keep
you from breathing in some germs special respiratory mask (respirator) forms a tight seal around your nose and
mouth. It may be needed so that you do not breathe in small germs like tuberculosis bacteria or measles or
chickenpox viruses.

Eye protection includes face shields and goggles. These protect the mucous membranes in your eyes from blood
and other bodily fluids. If these fluids make contact with the eyes, germs in the fluid can enter the body through
the mucous membranes. Clothing includes gowns, aprons, head covering, and shoe covers. These are often used
during surgery to protect you and the patient. They are also used during surgery to protect you when you work
with bodily fluids.

Visitors wear gowns if they are visiting a person who is in isolation due to an illness that can be easily spread.
Special PPE may needed when handling some cancer drugs. This equipment is called cytotoxic PPE. Need to
wear a gown with long sleeves and elastic cuffs. This gown should keep liquids from touching your skin. May
also need to wear shoe covers, goggles, and special gloves.

Remove and dispose of PPE safely to protect others from being exposed to germs. Before leaving your work
area, remove all PPE and put it in the right place for instances special laundry containers that can be reused after
cleaning, special waste containers that are different from other waste containers and specially marked bags for
cytotoxic PPE.
Problems that healthcare workers face during pandemic.
First and foremost, shortage of personal protection equipment. They also have lack of clarity around indications
for its use. Intense scrutiny of international media. Isolation from their family and other supports. Apart from
that, fears of transmitting the virus to family and others. Rapidly expanding workload with an increasing
number of suspected and confirmed case. Progressively depleted workforce due to illness and isolation of staff.
Incidents of hostility and even aggression towards medical personal. Lack of effective treatments for unwell
patients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and, in many cases, exceeded the capacity of hospitals and intensive
care units (ICUs) worldwide. Health-care workers have continued to provide care for patients despite
exhaustion, personal risk of infection, fear of transmission to family members, illness or death of friends and
colleagues, and the loss of many patients. Sadly, health-care workers have also faced many additional—often
avoidable—sources of stress and anxiety, and long shifts combined with unprecedented population restrictions,
including personal isolation, have affected individuals' ability to cope.
As the pandemic unfolded, many health-care workers travelled to new places of work to provide patient care in
overwhelmed facilities; those who volunteered in unfamiliar clinical areas were often launched into the
pandemic ICU setting with insufficient skills and training. The burden of training and supervising these
volunteers fell on already stressed clinicians. Hospital-based health professionals worked long hours wearing

37

cumbersome and uncomfortable personal protective equipment (PPE), after initial shortages of PPE had been
addressed. They strived to keep up with emerging knowledge, institutional and regional procedures, and
changing PPE recommendations, while trying to distinguish accurate information from misinformation. Health-
care workers had to adopt new technologies to fulfill patient care and educational responsibilities, including the
provision of telemedicine.

Insufficient resources and the absence of specific treatments for COVID-19 added to the challenges of
managing severely ill patients. Health-care workers had to care for colleagues who were ill, offer comfort to
dying patients who were isolated from their loved ones, and inform and console patients' family members
remotely. Some health-care workers were burdened with emotionally and ethically fraught decisions about
resource rationing and withholding resuscitation or ICU admission. They shared the pain of patients without
COVID-19 who had their surgery or other essential treatments cancelled or postponed.
The fear of transmitting COVID-19 led many health professionals to isolate from their families for months.
Working remotely and being shunned by community members further contributed to loneliness. Many health-
care workers experienced lost earnings because of cancellations in outpatient visits and elective procedures. The
training of health-care workers (eg, medical students, residents, and allied health learners) was also interrupted,
leading to loss of tuition fees, missed learning opportunities, missed exams, and potentially delayed
certification. Home health-care workers experienced additional challenges that exacerbated the inequities they
face as a marginalized workforce, including limited or no PPE, varying levels of employer support, and the
difficult choice of working with its attendant risk or losing wages and benefits.1
The burden of COVID-19 on health systems and health-care workers was substantial in low-income and
middle-income countries (LMICs), where difficult daily triage decisions had to be made in the context of grave
shortages of basic equipment and consumables. LMICs saw an internal drain on human resources as health-care
workers were pulled from clinical practice to join COVID-19 committees and task forces. In the already
stretched areas of anaesthesia and intensive care, a high clinician burnout rate might have contributed to worse
outcomes for patients with COVID-19. An increase in non-COVID-related health problems and deaths (eg,
those caused by disruptions to vaccination or screening programmes for other infectious diseases), including
personal health challenges for health-care workers (eg, worsening of diabetes control), further strained poorly
resourced health systems.
LMICs experienced high rates of health care-associated COVID-19, due in part to a shortage of PPE, increased
workload, inadequate training and infection control practices, and pandemic fatigue. Guilt and stigma associated
with COVID-19 were common. Cases of health-care workers abandoning their posts or refusing to attend to
patients suspected of having COVID-19 were not uncommon. Health-care workers have been subjected to
denigration from various sources during the pandemic, including political leaders and hospital administrators. In
some LMICs, such as Uganda, health professionals were targeted by the public because of their roles on
scientific advisory committees, and their policy decisions were met with mistrust and hostility.
Health-care workers are known to be at risk for anxiety, depression, burnout, insomnia, moral distress, and post-
traumatic stress disorder.2, 3 Under usual working conditions, severe burnout syndrome affects as many as
33% of critical care nurses and up to 45% of critical care physicians.2, 3 Extrinsic organisational risk factors,
including increased work demands and little control over the work environment and the trauma of caring for
patients who are critically ill have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and represent important
exacerbating factors for poor mental health among health-care workers.
Following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, health-care workers reported chronic
stress effects for months to years. High prevalence of depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder, and
burnout; risk factors for adverse psychological outcomes included younger age, female sex, being a nurse, and
working directly with patients with COVID-19.7, 8, 9 The long-term effect on the health of those working in
health care remains to be seen.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of racial and socioeconomic disparities, with disproportionate
infection and death rates among migrants, the poor, and radicalized groups. COVID-19 has also had a
disproportionate effect on women health-care workers. Women comprise 70% of the global health and social
care workforce, putting them at risk of infection and the range of physical and mental health problems
associated with their role as health professionals and careers in the context of a pandemic. The pandemic

38

exacerbated gender inequities in formal and informal work, and in the distribution of home responsibilities, and
increased the risk of unemployment and domestic violence. While trying to fulfill their professional
responsibilities, women had to meet their families' needs, including childcare, home schooling, care for older
people, and home care. Burdened by these obligations, women had reduced academic productivity relative to
men, as evidenced by fewer women being part of the cohort producing new knowledge about the pandemic.10
There was a disconnect between the demands of parenting and the expectations of the scientific community, as
shown by ultra-short timelines for COVID-19-related grant proposals, which further deepened the divide
between women and men.
During the pandemic, there have been glimmers of hope and solace. We were buoyed by support from
institutional and government leadership, the spirit of teamwork, the celebration of lives saved, and the
acknowledgement of our value by the public. Social media was a venue for health-care workers to share their
anxiety, insomnia, and fatigue, which reduced the sense of isolation and normalised conversations about mental
health.
To effectively support health-care workers, the greatest assets of our health-care system, we must understand
their challenges and needs. Burnout and other forms of work-related psychological distress are unavoidable
occupational health issues. By acknowledging the commonality of psychological distress related to caring for
patients with COVID-19, we can destigmatise work-related mental health issues and appropriately attend to the
mental health needs of all health-care workers affected by the pandemic. Finally, we hope that the COVID-19
pandemic will prompt a redefinition of essential support workers, with recognition of the contribution of all
health-care workers and appropriate education, protection, and compensation.

39

Mental Health Of The Public, Staff And Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Disanthi A/P Maniam

According to WHO, Fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when
we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. Hence, it is normal for the society to have fear about this life
threatening COVID-19 pandemic. Many changes occurred to our daily lifestyle as our movement are restricted
to reduce the spread of the virus. The societies from different levels are facing difficulties as they need to obey
the Government‘s Movement Control Order to avoid any type of civil offence. Added to that, the public are
forced into new realities like working from home, home-schooling of children, unemployment, avoiding the
celebrations and mass gathering. The COVID -19 pandemic indirectly causes negative impact on mental health
of the society which is proven by the increasing of suicidal cases. The virus outbreak increases the stressors
such as, infection fears, boredom, and financial loss, loss of loved one, inadequate information, and stigma.

As for the public, they are more worried about their families and relatives who are more vulnerable,
such as older adults, those with existing health problems, and those who are pregnant or have given birth to a
child recently. Significantly, their worry increased if they have any of their family members as frontlines.
Furthermore, their overall interactions with others reduced and there is lack of physical contact even with their
own family members which causes major effect on mental health. The restriction of outdoor activities such as
jogging, hiking and outdoor sports has affected their mental health as well as their physical health. The eating
patterns of the public have changed during pandemic as the number of meals taken has increased and many are
eating because of being bored. Adding to that, many people are worried that they have gained weight during
pandemic as they are staying at house with lack of physical activity. Moreover, according to the recent study,
almost 50% of the public are facing stress, depression, anxiety and hopelessness which lead to suicidal
thoughts.

The COVID-19 outbreak has implied significant changes in the working environment, affecting he
staff‘s routine and activities. The changes that happen like, home office work environment, job insecurity and
virtual connection do impact the staff‘s performance. Many staffs are suffering due to inadequate salary as
many companies and management have reduced their monthly salary by half to cope up with the current
economic crisis. Besides that, a number of them had loss their job, as the management is trying to accommodate
the minimum number of employees as it will be easy to manage their salaries. Furthermore it is despairing to
say that, many companies had been closed down as the import and export services are affected due to pandemic
and the staffs found the alternative ways and working as overqualified employees.
The unprecedented COVID -19 pandemic has affected the education system and the student population majorly
which put a strain on their mental health. The main reasons for students experiencing psychological distress
include changes in academic activities, difficulties adapting to online distance learning methods and uncertainty
about the future with regard to academics and careers. The students who are attending the online classes facing
many challenges as the family members are being less independent and the environment is distractive. Adding
to those, sudden changes of quality of classes, technical issues, and long hours of online classes causing
difficulty to cope up with the current situation. Some of the students are uncertain about their academic
performance under the online learning environment. They are facing the lack of motivation to learn and tend to
procrastinate their studies. They are also experiencing some depressive thoughts due to the self-doubt,
insecurity or uncertainty, powerlessness or hopelessness, concerns about academic performance and
overthinking.

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Health & Safety Of Covid-19 Patient At Home And Hospital

Lee Zi Xuan

As more COVID cases rise everyday, Malaysia is running out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds to treat Covid-
19 patients as the number of category 4 and 5 cases requiring critical care beds continues to surge. A lot of
health and safety issues have caught nationwide attention while dealing with this COVID-19 pandemic.

First, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated healthcare setting shortages nationwide. Hospitals across the
country, particularly in the Klang Valley, were running close to capacity as the influx of patient arrivals
triggered a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and staff to provide adequate care for patients. For
instance, healthcare workers in Kuala Lumpur had to turn patients away, given that COVID-19 care takes
priority, while in the northern state of Kedah, doctors were left to decide who gets a chance to live due to the
state‘s limited number of ICU beds. Several hospitals have even converted their parking lots into emergency
units to accommodate more patients.

Moreover, some of the states in Malaysia are facing running out of healthcare equipment, particularly ventilator
and oxygen supplies. In recent weeks, pictures and videos of overwhelmed hospitals in the Klang Valley have
been shared online. One video showed at least a dozen patients on metal row chairs sharing oxygen supplies at
the emergency department of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. As a prove of point, Klang MP
Charles Santiago said Klang hospital needed RM20 million (US$6.5 million) immediately for intensive care
unit facilities, oxygen tanks and beds, adding that some patients had been waiting for beds for days.

Healthcare staffing shortages nationwide has been exacerbated during COVID-19 pandemic, as the virus
sidelines thousands of employees who either contracted the virus or were exposed and must isolate. These
staffing shortages, combined with a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, has led to increased nurse-patient
ratios at many facilities. Some of the medical front liners have been reported quitting their job because of
unable to tolerate high workload and long working hours in this COVID pandemic. This issue has undoubtedly
leading to many COVID patient are not well taken care of in hospital.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry recorded a 60 per cent increase in
ICU admissions nationwide. So, there will be more mild or moderate COVID patients be treated at home.
According to WHO, asymptomatic people should be able to stay at home, if adequately isolated from others, but
this should be confirmed by a doctor. Those with mild or moderate disease can be considered for home care if
they are under the age of 60, do not smoke, are not obese, and do not have other diseases such as cardiovascular
disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease or immunosuppression.

For those COVID patient that self isolated at home, there are some health and safety measures that they should
bear in mind. First, household members need to limit shared spaces, practice the recommended hygiene and
know how to recognize and respond to signs of worsening health. The ill person should stay in a separate room.
If this is not possible, then keep at least a 1-metre distance from them. Besides, caregivers and household
members should wear a medical mask while in the same room with an ill person, not touch their mask or face
during use, discard the mask after leaving the room, and wash their hands afterward.

Furthermore, good ventilation should be provided in the patient‘s room and shared space, and open windows
when possible and safe. Visitors should not be allowed in the home. Limit the number of caregivers to one
person with no underlying medical conditions, if possible. The ill person should have dedicated dishes, cups,
eating utensils, towels and bed linens. They should be washed with soap and water, and not shared.
Nevertheless, frequently touched surfaces by the ill person should be cleaned and disinfected at least daily.
Everyone in the household should also wash their hands with soap and water regularly.

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Last but not least, all COVID-19 patients who self isolated at home should beware of ‗Happy Hypoxia‘. One of
the contributing factors of rise in admission for Category 4, 5 of Covid-19 patients is the occurrence of happy
hypoxia among young and healthy asymptomatic patients, in which they were unknowingly suffering from low
oxygen levels, until their health declines. Happy hypoxia undoubtedly had led to the delay in getting early
treatment. Hence, all COVID-19 patients who self isolated at home should have self oxygen monitoring at
home. They should purchase a pulse oximetry and using it to measure their Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) at least
twice daily. SpO2 of less than 94% is an indication of prompt hospital admission for oxygen supplies and
monitoring.
In conclusion, in view of all these heartbreaking issues arises amid COVID pandemic. Malaysia government
should implement stricter lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. Quoted form Datuk Awang Bulgiba: "The
lockdown needs to be strict enough and long enough. It is not strict enough. It is a half-baked lockdown, so
there is not much impact. "Putting in more beds, tanks, hospitals, does not solve the root problem."

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Impact Of Covid-19, A Student’s Perspective

Janice Philip

When the MCO was first announced in March 2020 following the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in
Malaysia, I could not be happier. Having a mundane routine life for the past 3 years was fast becoming tedious
for a 23 year old me who wanted more freedom. The luxury of sleeping in and waking up to the scent of a
delicious brunch was enough to make me forget all my responsibilities and cares. However, my joy was soon
cut short when online classes started and I found myself scrambling and raking every single memory I have to
cope with my studies.
Studying to be a medical doctor was never easy, well at least for me. I often find myself doubting again and
again if this path was really meant for me or did I overestimate my perseverance and capabilities. Online classes
made it easier to escape from the reality of truth. I found myself slacking both in my studies and in my life. The
non-stop eight to five classes with only breaks of an hour or two for lunch and the huge amount of
presentations, logbooks and assignments that I have to do drove me further up the wall. I was fed up both with
my life and the current situation our country was in. It did not help that as much as I was fast losing
concentration in classes, my neck and my back ached from the over-straining of sitting for hours in front of my
laptop the whole day. But then again who and what I can blame? After all, it is indeed pretty hard to be fully
focused on my studies when you have a phone by your side that is constantly ringing notifying you of various
updates, be it of the latest post your bestie has posted on instagram or the latest release of your favourite online
dramas.
As professional as I try to be, I find myself soon wasting my time idling away on and off hours by the start of
my 6th week of online classes. I had no will or drive to do anything, let alone study. When face to face classes
resumed in January 2021, I found myself lacking in so many areas which only further discouraged me.
However, I was quick to adapt to my new lifestyle and soon I could forsee my life getting back on track to when
Covid-19 did not exist.
Just when I was getting all geared up and motivated, Malaysia was soon put into another lockdown forcing all
students and me alike back to the comfort of my home, back to the unproductive lifestyle I lead. I know that it
would not be long before exam schedules would be announced. Again, I will find myself in a panic frenzy,
trying to keep up with my assignments and exams at the same time. I just cannot help but watch myself slip
away in a world of escapism from all the responsibilities that is haunting me.
Did Covid-19 change anything in my life? Or did I choose to change to escape from my responsibilities while
putting the blame on what the pandemic has done to my life? I am not sure if any other 23 year old have been
impacted the way I was but I am keeping fingers my crossed that it would not be so. Having only one person
slacking away from life‘s inevitable responsibilities is much better than a nation full of young irresponsible
adults who have nothing better to do than to be addicted to the internet.

The impact of Covid-19 on Malaysia, on our society.
As Malaysia gears itself to the end of its umpteenth number of various movement control orders (MCOs), the
public cannot help but to pressurise the government into making better decisions to curb the spread of Covid-19
in our country. As of today, the official number of Covid19 cases in Malaysia has reached a total of 758, 967
cases. The rising numbers of deaths and cases that never seem to recede have threatened the peaceful lives of
Malaysians. Many cannot help but to worry as the pandemic has thoroughly affected many lives forcing them
out of their comfort zones. Be it the economy of our country, the education sector, the pillars of many homes or
individual lives, Malaysia is facing a major crisis and we have to be prepared to face one of the worst setbacks
in the history of our country.
1. Economy
Due to the constant lockdowns in Malaysia, the economy has suffered a major blow and the country‘s debt is
constantly piling up. Businesses, factories have to be closed down to accommodate the government‘s effort to
curb the spread of Covid19. There is no telling when all these will come to an end. Many business owners have

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no choice but to succumb to bankruptcy as debts begin to pile in. Banks, hotels and eateries have shut down one
by one and yet the country‘s condition does not seem to improve. Is this amount of sacrifice still not enough to
actually put a halt to the spread of the disease in this country? Many have been forced to be out of their jobs,
leaving them scavenging around to find a job to provide for themselves and their family.
When the government lifted the movement control order following the first MCO imposed in the country, many
saw a ray of hope as they thought it was the end of our fight against Covid19. What they did not know was the
resilience of the disease in our country would eventually lead to a surge of Covid19 cases that will douse all
hopes of an economy recovery in the year 2021. The government‘s efforts in improving healthcare facilities and
providing sufficient vaccines to achieve herd immunity has backfired as the country‘s economy continues to
bleed, arousing criticism from the public.
The government have their hands and feet equally bound as they are unable to resolve the country‘s debts, what
more to think about unfortunate souls who are wandering around aimlessly in hope for a ray of light at the end
of this dark and unpredictable tunnel. Billions have been spent, yet it has failed to reach out to all those who
truly need this glimmer of hope amidst the darkness they are in.

2. Education
Along with the spikes of Covid19 cases in Malaysia, the education sector has took a huge leap by introducing
online learning platforms in order to ensure that students do not fall back in their studies. From kindergarten
kids to university students, learning has been switched to online mode where students have to depend on the
internet to resume classes that were initially held back.
Even though this may seem like a blessing in disguise, paving the way for a breakthrough in technology
especially in the education sector, students and educators alike are far from ready for this sudden change. As a
result, the education system has become a mess. Students find means to escape learning and some teachers also
take the opportunity to slack in their teaching, blaming students for their irresponsibility. Besides, many of the
older generation who are still actively teaching are facing problems in trying to set up the IT gadgets required
for online classes.
Enthusiasm alone is insufficient to resolve this issue. Special workshops and courses should be conducted to aid
those who lack the knowledge in handling IT gadgets. Proper and organised study modules should also be
provided for students so that they would not feel confused when attending classes. A fixed schedule should also
be enforced to ensure that students are not misusing their time in the comfort of their homes.
Another important issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of internet connectivity and proper IT devices
especially in rural areas. Without devices with internet connection, online classes cannot be held. This is
something the government should look into as the pandemic may not resolve anytime soon. Making the best of
what we can do is the best solution for the education sector at this moment.

3. Individual
The core of every individual is their mind. As long as one‘s mind is still intact, regardless of the setbacks one
faces, there is nothing that is impossible to overcome. However, when the mind is not strong enough, even the
slightest trouble can drive one into a bottomless pit of anguish. One of the important issues highlighted by the
Ministry of Health was the increase in the number of calls, seeking for mental health assistance during this
pandemic. Not to mention, even the number of suicide and attempted suicide cases have increased throughout
this period.
Though Covid19 has given some the opportunity to put a pause to their otherwise busy and mundane life, others
cope with it poorly. For many, it is pressurising because the never ending lockdowns meant losing income with
no certainty of the future. The fear of losing one‘s job, the fear of businesses closing down has forced many to
start thinking whether they can get through yet another day without a proper source of income. Some are even
left wondering how they are going to pick up their pieces with many worries of the unknown future ahead of
them.
Thus, during this period of hard times, it is important to stay positive and have a right mind set about life.
People should take this as a chance of self-reflection and making full use of the extra time to build stronger
bridges with family and friends. Worries about the future will never cease to exist. It is important for one to

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learn to find solutions to their problems instead of bemoaning their fate and allowing guilt, sorrow and negative
feelings to overwhelm them.

4. Homes – Divorce, Abuse
Another issue that is frequently highlighted but often dismissed easily is the increase in the number of divorces
and abuse during this pandemic. The Movement Control Order (MCO) has confined many to their homes and
that means exposing children and women to the mercy of their abusers. Unable to escape anywhere, they have
to be constantly filled with fear and anxiety with no knowing when and how their predators will react at all
times. Anger and pent-up frustrations during these turbulent times would eventually be lashed out on their
respective spouses and children as there is no space for them to vent their emotions. As a result, most women
and children fall helpless with no one to rescue or notice their cries as everyone else is confined to their homes.
Perhaps life would be easier for them if only there were available outlets where they can run to for shelter and
comfort. The government and various NGOs should make more efforts to reach out to all these silent victims
who can only pray that someday, someone will free them from the pain and suffering they are in. Physical abuse
and sexual abuse are not the only forms of abuse. Emotional abuse is just as bad. As everyone is cooped up at
home, parents may tend to release their stress and frustrations on their kids. Hurtful words can sometimes be
more damaging to a kid‘s growth then physical wounds. These unhealed scars that are deeply engraved in these
kids will only mould and groom them to be equally abusive when they become adults. Thus, this vicious cycle
should be put to stop and parents play an important role. Seeking help for anger management and emotional
issues is nothing to be ashamed of and should be commended.
Divorces have also been on the rise and couples start to build anger and frustrations in their relationship. The
unsurety of the future has caused husbands and wives alike to blame each other for the problems they are
facing. Husbands are often engulfed by the inferiority of being unable to provide enough for the family.
Eventually, some are pushed to their limits by the constant nagging and degrading from unreasonable wives
leading them to part ways, both young and old couples alike. Likewise, unreasonable husbands who yell, shout,
degrade and some even hit their wives are not uncommon.
Many housewives are feeling the brunt of the heat as their children and husband are at home 24hours a day,
leaving them no space for a breather. From the moment they open their eyes in the morning to the time they
close their eyes at night, life is like a daily wedged war they cannot escape. In addition to the household chores
they have to do, cooking 3 meals a day and making sure the kids are preoccupied without slacking in their
studies is inevitable. Some even have to serve their husbands and making sure the home is conducive enough
for them to work from home comfortably. This is particularly highlighted in Asian homes where men are seen
as the more superior figures and women have to subject to serve them.
In order for marriages to be preserved, both husbands and wives alike should learn how to be more loving,
respectful and tolerant towards one another. If only they can put themselves in each other‘s shoes and work
together to find solutions to the problems in their marriage, every family can be a happy family and hard times
can easily be prevailed over. Instead of playing the blaming game and pointing fingers at each other, tolerance
should be adopted and adapted. Children alike should also be more understanding and help out with the
household chores. Parents should first set a good example if they want to guide their kids to be more responsible
and sensible adults. A good environment in the home is necessary for proper growth and development of the
kids.
In short, everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, from an individual to a nation, are suffering from this
pandemic and while it is still hard to pinpoint what future beholds for us, we can only hope and pray for the
better tomorrow. Life is short but if we choose to give up without even trying to struggle to live for another day,
then the life we have lived is meaningless. Humans are made to be able to adapt to our surroundings to survive.
I believe that as long as we persist, as long as we endure, there is always a rainbow at the end of a downpour, a
light at the end of a tunnel and a hope of a better future amidst the perils we are facing today. Perhaps in 10 or
20 years to come, we will look back on these days and be proud of ourselves because just as we always do in
our history of mankind, we survived.

45

Health & Safety Of Covid-19 Patients At Home And In The Hospital

Lim Ju Yao

Covid-19, the word alone causes fear, anxiety and distress around the globe. Most people would not had
expected that such a virus would exist prior to this pandemic although there were warning signs as alerted by
some philanthropists, epidemiologists and scientists. For instance, Bill Gates in his TED talk in 2015 on ―The
next outbreak? We‘re not ready‖ where he elaborated about humanity being unfit to handle the upcoming
pandemic. Throughout this pandemic, we have seen the collapse of the healthcare system around the world and
countries implementing lockdown which has greatly impacted the economy, our livelihood, the healthcare
system and people‘s overall health either mentally, physically or emotionally.

Among the worse to suffer from this pandemic are the COVID-19 patients. Needless to say, the ones
who are suffering the most are the ones with severe symptoms. Now, the question that arises is how safe are our
COVID-19 patients who are at home and in the hospital? Usually, patients who are diagnosed as COVID-19
positive but are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms are required to have self-quarantine or are quarantined
under observation at a designated location. These patients are mostly safe but may progress to have severe
symptoms. They are required to watch out for warning signs and seek out for medical attention immediately if
they have symptoms such as having trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion,
inability to wake or stay awake, having pale, grey, or blue-coloured skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin
tone. The patients at home must protect themselves and others by limiting contact with others by staying one
meter apart from other individuals and isolate themselves in a separate room if possible. If it is a shared space,
make sure the room has good ventilation by opening the windows to help increase air circulation. This helps
remove respiratory droplets from the air. Patients should also avoid having visitors to prevent the spread or
transmission of COVID-19 to outsiders. Moreover, caregivers for COVID-19 patients must also be quarantine.
The duration of quarantine will vary depending on the requirement of public health authorities of each region.
However, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to endorse quarantine for 14 days
and recognizes that any quarantine shorter than 14 days balances reduced burden against a small possibility of
spreading the virus. Other safety measures to follow for COVID-19 patients at home include avoid sharing
personal items such as food utensils, cleaning hands often either by soap and water or with hand sanitizer and
cleaning high touch surfaces such as doorknobs, tables, phone and light switches.

Patients in the hospital are allotted to a quarantine area either in the ward or in the Intensive Care Unit
(ICU). These patients are generally in a severe or critical condition who are undergoing treatment such as bed
rest, ventilation and oxygen therapy. Unlike the patients undergoing quarantine at home, these patients are not
allowed to have a caregiver or family member near them to prevent the spread of the virus. Even healthcare
personnel who are responsible for the care of patients are required to be in full attire of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE). In this situation, patients often lack affection and a sense of well-being which can eventually
lead to mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Needless to say these mental health problems
can also affect patients or the public who are undergoing prolong isolation or self-quarantine which can be
correlated with the increasing number of suicide cases that are occurring due to the pandemic.

In the earlier part of the pandemic, healthcare workers do not have proper guidelines to treat COVID-19
patients, however as time progresses and more clinical trials are being done and published, healthcare personnel
throughout the world are better equip with the right knowledge and arsenal to combat COVID-19 for the
wellbeing of the patients. This will allow a smoother and faster recovery for COVID-19 patients in the hospital,
hence improving the safety of both the patients and the public as a whole. Nevertheless, being safer does not
mean being entirely safe as prevention is still far better than cure. The hospital is not built to prevent accidents
from occurring but the hospital can only help in treating the patient and a cure is not guaranteed.

As the number of people being vaccinated throughout the world increases, more people can be safe from
this deadly virus. We need to stop this virus in its tract before it can further progress to mutate into a detrimental
variant that can spread further, faster and infect more people. All of us regardless of age, gender, race, religion,
social status and nationality need to play our part in making sure everyone is safe. Lastly, what I want to say to
you dear reader is please do your part and get vaccinated for the wellbeing of yourself , your love ones and
humanity as a whole. Thank you.

46

Challenge Faced By Health Care Worker & Medical Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Nisharlini A/P Ramasamy

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus outbreak broke out in Wuhan, China. So far, it has spread all over the
world, bringing a lot of challenges to healthcare workers and medical students. As the healthcare system
prepares for the Covid-19 pandemic, protecting the well-being of our healthcare worker is more important than
ever.

People have become more aware of the physical and psychological challenges that medical staffs face. Long
and irregular working hours, continuous performance evaluation, and heavy workload will lead to increased
stress and eventually burnout. Healthcare workers are unable to go home to their family as they are afraid of
transmitting the virus indirectly. They are mostly isolated from their family members and even children to
ensure their safety. This may lead some healthcare workers to undergo depression due to loneliness.

Also, making decisions under uncertain conditions can generate enormous psychological pressure. The
decisions faced by healthcare workers which includes allocation of resources for the severely affected patients,
balancing physical and mental health of colleagues, care for the unwell patients and aligning patients‘ needs
with family.

Besides, healthcare workers also face burnout, described as a state of extreme physical and mental exhaustion
caused by the needs of certain occupations. Burnout can be related to a variety of conditions, including anxiety,
depression and disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder, all of which can reduce the quality of life for those
affected. Burnout is also associated with an increased risk of medical errors and unplanned employee absences,
both of which can negatively affect patient care.

In recent years, the psychological well-being of medical students has been a topic of widespread discussion. The
high infectiousness of the virus makes it difficult to continue classes as usual, which affects the course of
medical education that focuses on lectures and bedside teaching opportunities for medical students. Medical
training through clinical rotation has been suspended. Virtual clinical experience was conducted through online
method in response to the suspension of clinical rotations.

Other challenges include concerns that medical students may contract the virus during training and spread it to
the community. In addition, students must stay at home and comply with social distancing guidelines.
Therefore, medical education courses are formulated to provide students with opportunities for continuous
learning while avoiding delays caused by the pandemic. Online lectures with interactive discussions through
zoom software and the utilization of several different programs or self-study online recorded lectures made
available online for medical students in each university.

Another challenge faced by medical students is difficulty for to acquire stable online access, with possible
difficulties in using advanced technologies that might be needed in e-learning. These tools and services may be
expensive for some medical students. Challenges brought about by the pandemic included those related to
communication, student assessment, use of technology tools, online experience, pandemic-related anxiety or
stress and time management which may cause psychological issues to some medical students.

In responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, all key healthcare professionals and medical students
face great uncertainty. Among these uncertain moments, the physical and psychological health of front-line
medical staff and medical students becomes a key consideration.

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Challenge Faced By Health Care Worker & Medical Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Rahul Nair

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 referred as COVID-19 is caused by the virus SARS -CoV-2. This virus spread
rapidly and resulted in an outbreak globally in a very short period of time. World Health Organization(WHO)
labelled it as a worldwide pandemic shortly after the outbreak. This pandemic started over a year ago and it
undeniably caused serious effects on health care workers and medical students all around the world.

To begin with, medical education process is critically challenged due to the implementation of
confinement to home as an effort to prevent covid transmission or infection. There is no doubt that e-learning
was introduced to ensure safety of students. However, it limits students‘ learning ability. Patient-based learning
for medical students has been put off prior to COVID-19 pandemic. This results in students who lack in
grasping clinical reasoning. Medical students are also unable to clerk patients in hospitals, challenges students‘
learning and understanding of diagnosis. Even if the bedside teaching is permitted, availability of doctors for
bedside teaching are limited as they have to focus on COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the clinical rotations are
restricted affects medical training of the students. This contagious virus has made the situation difficult for
students to learn and to gain clinical experiences. Thus, it is evident that the pandemic challenges the medical
education process.

In addition, this pandemic phase has taken a huge toll on medical students‘ mental health and overall
well-being. Social distancing, absence of peer interactions and restriction on social activities has shown to
elevate stress, anxiety and depression among students. Adapting to the new normal is hard and stressful for
most students and they suffer from sleeping disorders and eating disorders during this lockdown period.
Quarantine and sudden change in lifestyle are the main reasons for stress. Besides, poor physical activity during
this pandemic has led to high rates of obesity among students. Less importance is given to physical health in
midst of this challenging period. Moreover, studies shows that e-learning has put excessive pressure on the
students with continuous online lectures, back-to-back online tests and overload of assignments from lecturers.
Consequently, medical students are unable to cope stress properly and fall backwards.

On the other hand, health care front liners are beyond challenged during this global pandemic in attempt
to save lives and tackle COVID-19. Doctors and nurses have been working day and night to treat COVID-19
patients. In some instances, providing care to patients during this coronavirus crisis can be overwhelming and
may cause fear, stress and anxiety in health care employees. It is difficult to stay unaffected with the escalating
numbers of death everyday. Moreover, health care front liners are exhausted, burnout and sleep deprived
attending to covid patients without much of a break all day. This can do a number on their health and deteriorate
health of employees that already have health issues. Front liners with tuberculosis, cancer and other illness can
fall ill without proper rest. Throughout this pandemic phase, health care workers are not be able to apply for an
emergency leave as there will be a shortage in manpower to tend covid patients in hospitals. Furthermore, front
liners in most countries are facing crisis as such insufficient of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect
themselves against this deadly virus. Attending to patients with layers of PPE the whole day can be such a tough
task as well. Also, there are some health care frontliners who are staying away from families and not able to
visit their families for a very long period now.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly left unprecedented negative impact to health care
workers and medical students globally. Yet, health care workers ensure that patient care is not compromised
whereas medical students are fighting against all the barriers to find their worth in healthcare and to serve
patients.

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Challenge Faced By Health Care Worker & Medical Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

S Kavilaashinne A/P G Subashandar

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers and medical students face many challenges. However,
one mutual challenge that is obvious to me is that both health care workers and medical students have to update
their knowledge about this novel virus and equip themselves with new information about corona virus. This is
because health care workers and medical students are usually the ones who receive questions about the virus
and the pandemic from those around them. Answering questions about the virus that is completely new to them
requires a lot of reading and understanding first. This is a challenge because they would have to find time
amidst their busy schedule to update themselves with this new knowledge.

Another challenge faced by medical students during the Covid-19 pandemic is the stress and decrement in
mental health as the amount of online assignments increases. In addition, due to the current pandemic, face to
face interaction has been put to a halt which makes online assignments the major method of grading. This
causes a tremendous amount of stress to students as they are at home and not in their universities, thus they
need to help out with the chores at home and not just focus on online classes and assignments. Moreover, online
assignments such as quizzes and presentations cause students to have very limited time due to the extremely
short deadlines given. Students are forced to face their computer and laptop screens for a very long period of
time which may lead to insomnia. Furthermore, students are forced to prioritise their assignments and grades
over their mental and physical health in order to perform well. Furthermore, medical students who are in their
clinical years do not get sufficient clinical exposure. Subsequently, these medical students might lack in history
taking skills, physical examinations and bedside manners. On the road to graduation, medical students might
complete their degree without satisfaction and face major struggles during their housemanship. In conclusion,
the Covid-19 pandemic has definitely brought many drawbacks to medical students all over the country.

As we all know that health care workers have taken the Hippocratic oath whereby they have the
responsibility to serve the community even though their health is being at risk. They have to work continuously
everyday with the full personal protective equipment, PPE and expose them to high risk patients. PPE is the
equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These
injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical or other workplace hazards.
However, healthcare workers claim that wearing a PPE is one of the most uncomfortable thing. Including items
such as gloves, safety glasses, shoes, respirators, vests and full body suits with PPE adds up the burden where it
gets hot and sweaty every 5 minutes of wearing it. Furthermore, the googles and face masks create tight seals
around the eyes, nose and mouth which subsequently leaves pressure marks and sometimes even bruises. This is
detrimental to the health care workers as it may affect their physical and mental wellbeing. A cross-sectional
survey study was conducted by Department of Geriatric Medicine of Guangzhou First People Hospital states
that Nearly half of the HCWs reported serious psychiatric symptoms, including suicidal ideation, during the
COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from that, one additional issue among our Malaysian healthcare workers and students is the
contract system or well known as ―Hartal Doktor Kontral‖. After years of job insecurity, this issue has been
viral in social medias for the past one month where it adds on the mental stress for the healthcare workers. In
long term, contract workers might leave the profession including junior doctors who form the bulk of the
COVID-19 response team along with house officers which eventually causes lack of human resources in the
healthcare system. Doctors have worked and are working tirelessly through the pandemic, they definitely
deserve career security for their future. What‘s the point of being a contract doctor when there is no job security

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for all the doctors or a clear postgraduate pathway to specialisation? Therefore, the government should provide
equal and fair benefits for contract and permanent staffs. A detailed and transparent criterion should also be
implied for permanent posts.

Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on students, workers and public

SIMRAN KAUR
In November 2019, a newly discovered coronavirus was detected and it caused a vast and fast spread
throughout the world by March 2020. It was then, WHO declared it a pandemic causing majorities of the
countries to be under lockdown and stop international flights immediately. The virus that causes COVID-19 is
mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales. These
droplets may fall on floors and surfaces hence, contaminating them as well.

In March 2020, The Malaysian Government declared a Movement Control Order (MCO) as a method to
reduce the spread of COVID-19. This has caused the citizens of our country to stay home and restrict outdoor
activities/ daily routine.

Staying at home during these times has brought a couple of impact towards students, workers and the
public. For an instance, The MCO has caused students to return home and study online. No matter what field of
study, this has caused students to lose experience on hands-on activities that would have been carried out if
things were ‗normal‘. The good side of staying home was the ability to be with family during this pandemic. As
we all know, being alone for a significant amount of time may slightly impact our mental health. However,
times like these may also be hard on those with broken families or troublesome ones. Campus is one of the most
conducive places to study and this may not be achieved at home with all sorts of distractions. School students in
this country come from various backgrounds. Some are well to do while some are not. This may impact poor
students or students living in rural areas as they may not own a computer or have a WiFi system at home to
attend online classes.

Compared to students, the workers/ staff / working class in our country has it worse during this
pandemic. With everyone staying home, shops would be closed resulting in a decline in business. With business
down, the employers are unable to pay their employees, rent, etc, causing people to lose their jobs and worse,
being bankrupt. Teachers at home, may sometimes face difficulties using electronic devices and if the WiFi has
an unstable connection, it causes a lot of time to be wasted comparing to just teaching in schools. Our front
liners are the ones exposed to COVID-19 everyday. With so little knowledge about this new coronavirus, they
try their best to help patients who are affected. There are so many cases of front liners being tested positive and
bringing the virus home to families. The number of front liners who died fighting the battle of COVID19 is
devastatingly high and they should at least be appreciated for their hard work and dedication. Other than that,
the poor has it worse when their daily incomes have been reduced or stopped making it difficult to feed and take
care of their family members. So, if every citizen of this country, play their role to stop the spread of COVID19,
we may pass through this tough period faster together and hopefully life goes back to as it were.

As for the public, it is no longer a norm to go out with friends and family. Our only source of interaction
may be through the Internet. For an example, there are now many applications on the phone/ laptops that helps
us video call our loved ones that are far away. Children lose their freedom of simply going to school and being
among their peers or even going to the playground in the evenings. Mothers, hardly get some alone time when
everyone is at home and this may be a little overwhelming for them. Working parents may find in difficult to
cope with work and being home at times as they can also get distracted or even stressed thinking about many
problems that may relate to work and home. I would say, grandparents living with their families are the happiest
as everyone is at home and they get to spend time with their grandchildren more. For those grandparents living
alone, these times may take a toll on them as it is never easy being away from family for long periods.

In conclusion, we must accept the fact that COVID-19 is going to be among the public for the next
couple of years or so. We do not know what the future is in store for us, therefore all we can do is play our role
as responsible citizens and fight together to stop the spread of COVID-19. We have stayed home more than a
year, we can do it a little longer.

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