FOM Chronicle Deepavali FOM 21st Anne Issue

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Advisor FOM Chronicles

Sr. Prof. Dr. K.R. Sethuraman Volume 4 Issue 2
Dean FOM, AIMST University
Table of Contents
Editor
From the Desk of Dean…………………......3
Dr. Matiullah Khan FOM Events and Milestone in Picture…9
Faculty News & Achievements……......17
Editorial Board Dr. Neoh’s Gallery………………………......53
Arts and Photography…………………….54
Dr. Srikumar Articles and Commentary………………..61
Students' News & Affairs
Disclaimer of Liability: The Editorial Board
Dr. Leela Anthony or the Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University
Kospen+ & Women's Perspectives accepts no responsibility or liability for errors
or omissions in any news, information or
Dr. P.K. Rajesh articles published in FOM Chronicles
ME Activity/Alumni News
Dr. Kevin Fernandez & Dr. Sawri Rajan

Community Service
Dr. Neoh Chin Boon
Arts & Photography

Dr. Varun Pai
FOMAP

Dr. Mariette D’Souza
Literature & Music
Dr. Vimalah Devi

Co-curricular Activities

Publisher

Faculty of Medicine
AIMST University
08100, Bedong, Kedah, Malaysia
Email: [email protected]

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From the Desk of Dean

Sr. Prof. Dr. KR Sethuraman
Dean-FOM & Senior Professor of Medicine

Some Major Events and Milestones of SOM/FOM during 2001 to 2022

(Part-1 of reminiscences of the Dean)
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”- George Santayana

2001 August – Inauguration of School of Medicine (SOM) with a permitted intake of 35
students twice a year took place. 20-odd students joined the pioneer batch-1. By October, the
Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology got permission to be a University-
College with schools of Medicine, Engineering, and other sciences.
2001 November – The students of the pioneer batch (B-1) were sent home by the
accreditation panel of LAN (Lembaga Akreditasi National) until the shop-lot campus was
upgraded to house a proper medical school. Prof V Menon, the first dean and Prof Harcharan
Singh Siddhu (HSS), the deputy dean of SOM put in hard work to upgrade the temporary
campus at Amanjaya (adjacent to and opposite of the present Hospital Pantai Amanjaya.
2002 May – LAN gives provisional accreditation to the MBBS programme, modelled after
the British curricula. Batch-2 students, selected in late 2001, are able to join after a few
months of waiting. Then AIMST had one 120-seat auditorium; SOM was allotted one 70-seat
lecture hall for each intake.

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2004 – The intake was enhanced to 120 per annum; Batches 5 and 6 are merged to create a
large cohort of 120. This created persistent challenges in arranging clinical training later in
2006-2009.

2005-„6 – The swanky new campus near Semeling, built in “Chakra” design is ready. In 4
years, more than 6 deans and acting deans move through SOM creating instability. Director-
Professor KR Sethuraman (KRS) was selected as the next dean with a mandate to run SOM
for 5 years or more. He was physically presented to the MMC in December ‟05 as the
incumbent dean who would stay till 2010.

2006 – On the Valentine‟s Day of 2006, Prof Sethuraman joined as a Senior-Prof of Medicine
and the Dean of SOM; Prof HSS & Prof PLNG Rao were the deputy deans and Dr PK Rajesh
was the preclinical coordinator then. Full accreditation visit was due in early 2007. To
improve team spirit and sort out any problems early, staff meetings of SOM was conducted
every month. There were only 22 academic staff then and SOM needed 66 by early 2007: the
staff accepted “Each one, Get one” initiative to get their peers and former students on board
as faculty staff. This boosted the staff numbers to 40+ in 6 months and over 60 by the time of
LAN-MMC visit in 2007.

2006 was the first year that SOM showed a positive balance in earnings, the first school to
geo from “red to black” on the balance sheet. For the past 16 years the medical faculty has
remained so and therefore rightfully earned its nicknames viz., “the Golden Goose” of “the
Flag ship of AIMST”.

The liaison with hospital staff was at low ebb. Hospital staff did not vacate the ward cubicles
for clinical exam; the year-4 clinical exams for B-1 had to be conducted in the makeshift
metal container put up by AIMST in the old SP hospital for clinical teaching!

It was obvious that SOM needed a clinical liaison unit, run by Malaysian staff to smoothen
relations between expatriate fulltime staff with the hospital staff. A strong appeal was made
to the Chairman, Tansri Dr Ampikaipakan. Dato Dr Zahari, who retired as the director of
health, Kedah state, joined SOM in August ‟06 as the Clinical Liaison Advisor with Dr
Christina as the coordinator to assist him. Dato managed to get one-off access to additional
hospitals to train the big-batch. The clinical training of the big-batch (5+6) needed creative
problem solving and out of the box solutions. SOM adopted 30% simulation based training,
giving a boost to the nascent skills lab in the old campus.

2007 - Official announcement that AIMST would shift to Semeling in the summer of 2006
did not take place. Meanwhile, SP hospital shifted from the century old site to the swanky
hospital HSAH on January 4, 2007. The difference between HSAH and SOM in shop-lot was
stark. On January 8th the dean informed the senior management (Mr Sekaran, the COO) that
successful final accreditation of MBBS would be much more likely if SOM shifted to the
swanky new campus of AIMST in Semeling. The Chairman and AIMST-BOD took this
seriously and directed Mr Sekaran the COO (the secretary to COO was Ms Buanes then) to
organise the move to the permanent campus near Semeling. Since most were hesitant to move
away from the comfort of the Amanjaya campus, SOM was asked to move first.

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In 2007, the campus was deserted, except for some students in two of the hostels; Dr Shakila,
the wife of Dr Srikumar was the first warden in the Girls‟ hostel. For food and provisions, the
nearest places were Semeling and Bedong. From the staff cafeteria at Amanjaya, breakfast,
lunch and dinner were brought by a van every day. Twelve other staff members of SOM were
the pioneers to agree to move into the apartment block; when we made our first visit to the
block, having been locked up for around 2 years, these were full of cob web!

Next was to move the dean‟s office and all the classes to Semeling; we decided to do it in
stages and ran the old office in the mornings and the new office in the afternoon from June to
September, when the new intake (B-11) joined. This staggered shift ensured a relatively
trouble free move into the new medical block.

By sacrificing the expansive dean‟s office as a seminar room (the F-4 in first floor), the dean
(KRS) prevented partitioning of the F-1 meeting hall in to two seminar halls and retained it as
a single hall for staff meetings. Even today, it is the largest meeting hall at AIMST, besides
the exam halls and the dome. It was late Mr Rajan, the maintenance officer, who suggested
the space above the bridge connecting the first floors of the eastern and western halves of the
medial block can be built us as Dean‟s office. He took care to make decent 4-room office
complex we still use at present. Similarly, to accommodate the large number of staff, he
provided furniture to seat two staff members in the cubicles meant for single occupancy.

On May 2nd, Prof Geoffrey Smith, a senior cardiothoracic surgeon and an adjunct professor of
the Royal College of London joined AIMST as its third VC. AIMST, a university-college,
gets upgraded as AIMST University in 2007. Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Allied health
and Pharmacy got upgraded to full-fledged faculties: SOM became FOM. Three deputy VC
posts are created. Prof HSS was given DVC (Student affairs) and Sr Prof KRS was given
DVC (Academic & International affairs) as additional responsibilities.

2007 – Visit by LAN-MMC in August 2007 for full accreditation: this was a zero-failure
option for us. Prof HSS, the deputy dean (preclinical), being a Malaysian and at SOM from
Day-1, undertook the responsibility of compiling and printing the self-study report and all the
annexes. Under his guidance, all the staff put in a lot of effort to compile and organise the
unit-files and also those which would go on to the report. Dr Diwakar of Biochemistry unit
took charge of arrangement of unit-files for verification by the visiting panel. He did such a
methodical job that every file was arranged intake-wise from B-1 to B-11. Such a neat
arrangement helped SOM to cover up a few deficiencies in documents, which were lost
during transfer from old to the new campus.

The deanery felt that to ensure successful outcome, in addition to the objective data, SOM
needed to showcase events that had emotional appeal: the Community Medicine unit, headed
by Prof KAN had adopted Tanjung Dawai, a fisher folk village, famous for its sea-food, and
which was affected by the Asian tsunami of 2004. The home-stay programme for B-2 in that
village had been a great success. We requested the village headman to organise a sea-food
dinner for the visiting panel. The visiting panellists accepted the invitation to a “sea-food and
durian” dinner at the village by the sea shore! The village headman, in his speech praised

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AIMST medical staff and students for adopting the village and the fact that they, all Malays,
were the foster parents for the smart medicos, who were mostly non-Malays. From the
reactions of the panellists during the dinner and the speech, we were sure the “emotional
appeal” attempt had been a great success.

Indeed it was so! The exit report was very favourable. Soon, we were informed by the
technical committee of full accreditation for 3 years and a monitoring visit in 2008.

Quality upgrade of the Skills Lab to a Clinical Skills Centre: In November 2007, the senior
admin invited Prof Larmie to join AIMST upon his retirement from USM as the director of
its skills centre. Though we had started using Skills lab in a big way, especially for the mega-
Batch (5&6), it was Prof Larmie, who organised the skills lab according to the organ systems
and created authentic immersive protocol for effective use of the high fidelity manikins.
Along with the deanery, he planned systematic simulation for skill learning from year-1 to
year-5 of MBBS. He also groomed quite a few young lecturers, who are shining elsewhere
now. Prof Dinker Pai was sent to Seoul for training on METi and thereafter he has
established himself as a leader in simulation pedagogy. Rightfully the Skills Lab was
renamed as Clinical Skills Centre.

In December 2007, an application to LAN-MMC was sent for permitting student intake of
200/year for MBBS. We prepared well by recruiting more staff and having a good liaison
with the hospitals.

2008 – Taking the big jump to the intake of 200 happened in August 2008: during their
monitoring visit, the MMC-MQA panel accepted our appeal to admit 200 students. We had
60+ students in B-13 and 130+ in B-14 to make up the 200 for 2008. Running 5 professional
exams twice a year was taxing the staff and we decided to go for a single intake of 200 from
2009 onwards.

Fri 7 Nov 2008: The VC (Prof G Smith) and COO (Mr Sekaran) of AIMST had a long
meeting with FOM staff on the preparedness to start PG programmes, viz, MSc in Basic
Sciences. An action plan was finalised to submit the documents to MQA by Mid-2009.

FOM organised a 3-day international conference on Simulation Pedagogy. It was a well
attended and a landmark event in FOM‟s history. (Read the news report in The Star dated 20-
11-2008)

2009-‟10 – Challenges faced: Prof G Smith had a smooth teamwork going on. However, he
completed his term in May 2009. Prof FC Smales, the dean of FOD took over as the 4th VC.

Academic staff left FOM at the rate of 25 to 30 per year. FOM became the leading supplier of
expatriate academic staff to other private medical schools in Malaysia and other nations. We
were struggling to keep the flag ship sailing ever forwards.

MSc rejection by MQA: FOM was unlucky to get a senior staff with a lot of unresolved anger
as the one-member MQA panellist, who rejected all the 4 submissions for MSc. (In private,

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we were told that it was a payback for his application for a faculty position being rejected by
AIMST). Prof HSS and the Dean had to face his wrath for no fault of the faculty!

The clinical liaison unit set up in 2006 was short lived as Dato Dr Zahari was shifted as the
dean of FAHP in 2008. The increased student numbers in the hospitals was straining the
relationship between FOM and the affiliated government hospitals. Added to this was the
major issue of delayed payment of honoraria to the part-time clinical lecturers of the hospital,
which irked them the most. Appeal to revive the clinical liaison unit did not bear fruit until it
was too late.

In early 2010, the hospital staff in HSB, Alor Setar stopped teaching our students citing
several reasons. The tacit reason, which all knew was the bureaucratic delay in settlement of
their claims. FOM had to rent a house and set up an “AIMST house”, where some of our
clinical staff used to stay and supervise the year-5 training at HSB, Alor Setar. Tansri
Marimuthu the chairman of AIMST-BOD then, held talks with the hospital staff and they
resumed teaching.

Clinical Liaison Unit at long last! The appeal from FOM-deanery for an effective clinical
liaison unit (CLU) found resonance in 2010. It was established in April 2010 with Dato Dr
Hasnah as the liaison advisor and Ms Buanes as her secretary. The deanery kept reminding
everyone that the hospitals can do very well without AIMST but we at AIMST need them for
our survival. For the past 12 years, the CLU has maintained an enviable rapport with the staff
of the affiliated hospitals.

Reaccreditation in 2010 by MQA-MMC: LAN had been renamed as MQA. In 2010, a new
document called the “Code of Practice for Programme Accreditation” (COPPA) was initiated.
It required a lot of rework in the way self study report had to be prepared. Prof KAN (DD
academic) was responsible for that but Dr ES Prakash, a hard-working brilliant Physiologist,
took it upon himself to compile the major portion of the report, which made life easier for the
deanery. The accreditation went off well as we were one the first to submit the report in
COPPA format (it was optional in 2010).

The memorable days of ASARWA (2008 to 2012): Those days, there were get together of
apartment dwellers on several evenings, especially the festival days such as Christmas,
Deepavali, Pongal etc.

2011 – RED foundation: the clinical students of FOM founded the Reach-out, Embrace,
Deliver (RED) foundation to raise funds to help some of the needy patients they meet in the
hospitals. The inaugural music of hope event was an eye-opener on the amazing talent and
the drive these youngsters possessed.

By this time, the hard working nature of the graduates of AIMST MBBS programme got
established. Dato Prof Raymond, who was the supervisor of the national housemanship
performance data, gave us a very favourable feedback.

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Persistence with MSc pays off: Despite the rejection in 2009, we reworked on the MSc
curricula, and resubmitted them in 2010. We got approval for all the 4 MSc courses and
launched them in July-2011. The first PG was the Ms.Thiba Krishnan, daughter of Mr
Krishnan, of AIMST Maintenance section. She did a 1-year MSc (Micro) by research and
emerged as our first PG alumnus in 2012.
2012 – Prof HSS, who was the VC after Prof FC Smales also finished his 2-year tenure and
left AIMST. Prof Prem took over as the new VC. His term too lasted only two years. The
frequent changes in the senior administration were to prove problematic in later years, when
FOM lost 50 MBBS seats per year.

Alumni Milestones (2007 – 2023)
2007 – The first batch of 19 emerge
2011 – Alumni total crosses 500
2012 – The first PG alumnus (MSc Microbiology)
2014 – Alumni total crosses 1000 mark
2019 – Alumni total crosses 2000 mark
2023 – Expected to cross 2500 mark in Feb-'23

Note: I have tried to recollect and name some of the important persons who helped
SOM/FOM. There are so many others who have helped us in running the show for 21 long
years. Perhaps others would be motivated to add their blogs and fill the unintended lacunae.
May God bless all with the success and recognition that they deserve!

- Prof KR Sethuraman, Dean 2006 to ‟13 and 2018 onwards.

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Major Events and Milestones of SOM/FOM: 2001-2022

2006 Batch-1 (n=21) in old campus with FOM staff
(n=22)

2008-08-17: Dental-Engg block on inaugural night 2008-08-17: Admin bldgs on inaugural night

2008-08-17: Library in inaugural night
2008-08-17: PM Hj Badawi on inaugural day with students

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2008-10-17: 1st Convo-Senate with AIMST Board

2008-10-17: 1st convo Tun Samy Vellu & 2008-10-17: 1st convocation Chairman & VC
Tansri Dr Ampi (Chairman-BOD)

2008-10-17: 1st Convocation 2008-10-17: 1st Convo night

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2008-10-21 Semeling Sisters (Ladies of AIMST) 2008-11-20 CSC with Larmie, Pai et al

2008-11-20: News - 120 for Simulation Conference_The Star
2009-01-06: FAIMER & 2010-09-15 World Directory approval
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2012-01-14: Dr. Marya-farewell party

2012-02-07: 12 Batch (zero-failure) with Dean
2012-03-15: ASARWA-day cookery competition (collage)

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2012-03-23: Red Foundation 1st Anniversary event at Great Hall
2012-04-07: Exhibition of Dr Neoh's Paintings of Birds

2012-03-31: Drs Arul, Ashutosh & Prof Achim 2012-04-17: Kg Sim Com-Med Health-Camp
Luth (Ortho)

2012-04-21: Open day
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2012-05-17: BOD-meeting (VC Prof Harcharan with Tun Samy Vellu)

2012-05-24: Joint management meet-HSAH-SP

2012-05-31: Visit of Ophthal-Prof-Muthu from Sabah 2012-06-20: Prof John Myers visits CSC- Dr Komathi explains

2012-06-20: Prof John Myers Visits CSC 14 2012-06-20: Prof John Myers with Dr Usha, Prof Neena
with Dean & Dr Shoba & Late Dr Kyaw Min

2012-07-27: Farewell to VC Prof Harcharan 2012-09-25: Ken Harvey with VC and Dean
Singh

2012-09-27: Heath-Action-International
Workshop

2012-10-07: Prof Harcharan with Quiz 2012-10-12: FOM deanery-staff (Rathnes, Angela,
winners, Dean & DD (preclinical) KAN, Dean, Ashotosh, Rajesh, Buanes)

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2012-10-20: B-11-12 felicitation Songs & Anthem 2012-10-20: First Prize (B-11 B-12) Dr Meera
2012-10-20: outgoing B-11 & B-12 Hippocratic-Oath

2012-11-12: Navarathri prayers at Student centre
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FOM 21st Anniversary Celebration

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AIMST Surgical Conference: Certificate Distribution

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White Coat Ceremony: MBBS Batch 27
Anniversary Celebration

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Ayudha Puja 2022

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Medical Camp, Unit of Community Medicine

1. Preparation time
- All group A members came a day earlier which was on Friday to the Dewan
komuniti to do the communal work. They followed their leader instruction to
arrange all the booths and facilities for our lecturers and residences.
- Our posting and camp leader gave us clear briefing regarding the ethics and
sequence of the booth

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2. Registration and anthropometry booth
- Safirah and Pavithra were incharge for the registration of the Taman Berlian
residences on the day of medical camp. Safirrah and Pavithra helped the residence
to record their basic patient info by using their identy card with their consent.
- Derrick and Betty incharge for the anthropometry booth. Derrick measuring the
height of a small boy with the help of his groupmate Muhammad. Betty is helping
Derrick to record the residence weight and height.

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3. Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure measurement
- Seethu is the person of in charge for the glucose measurement booth with the
guidance of Dr Uma Shankar. He is checking blood glucose level of a Malay
uncle by following the instruction from Dr Uma Shankar.
- Xin jie and Sasti are taking pulse rate and blood pressure by using electronic
blood pressure machine and then they record it in the vital sign column.

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4. Ophthalmology booth
- The doctor incharge for this booth are Dr Christina and Dr Bhardwaj with the
personnel in charge of Daniel and Soo Xuan. Soo Xuan helping the Dr to instruct
resident to read the Nelson chart.
- Dr Christina checking the patient‟s fundus by using fundoscopy and explaining it
to Daniel.

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5. Family and Internal medicine
- Dr Ajai Pratap Singh is in charge of internal medicine booth with the help of
Keerthana. Dr Ajai Pratap Singh is examining the resident and explaining the
findings to Keerthana.
- Pooi Sun appointed as personnel in charge for Dr Sawri Rajan at family medicine
booth. Pooi Sun examining the lung sound by using her stethoscope with the
guidance of Dr Sawri Rajan.

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6. Paediatric booth
- Dr Usha in charge of paediatric booth with the help of Yee Jiat. Dr Usha
explaining the growth of a small boy while examining him.

7. Medicine prescription
- Praveenash and Anuthra in charge of the drug prescription with the guidance of
Dr Theingi. They will check the prescription column and disturb the drug to the
resident with proper and clear instruction.

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8. Dental check up
- There are 2 staffs and Dr Jamilah Hassan from dental faculty came forward to join
our medical camp. They did dental check up to all the residence of Taman Berlian.

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9. Breast Self-examination
- Dr. Leela in charge of breast self-examination booth with the help of Sook Fun.
Dr. Leela explaining the steps of breast self-examination by using the breast
mannequin.

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10. Data entry and refreshment
- Varshini and Muhammad in charge of data entry. They will upload all the
information regarding the patient complaint and basic details.
- Shaktish and Pravin prepare and distribute the foods and drinks to the residents
and AIMST doctors.

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11. Colouring contest and closing ceremony
- Kershing organised colouring contest among the small kids.
- Too finish it of the closing ceremony was hosted by Hari and Seethu. During the
closing ceremony all the lectures staffs and students received token of
appreciation. Last but not least we end the day by taking few group pictures with
the volunteers and lectures.

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Health Camp Organised by MBBS Year 3, Group B, Batch 25 Students
Venue: Community Hall of Taman Berlian Indah

A medical camp was organised by the students of Group A, MBBS, Batch 25 during our
community medicine posting. This camp was held in the Community hall of Taman Berlian
Indah on the 24th of September. The event started at 8.30 am and ended approximately 12.30
pm .At 8am arrival of the Taman leader Mr Sangar A/L Ganapathy. At 8.30am arrival all
involved lecturers, Dr Leela Anthony, Deputy Dean, Dr Kevin Fernandez Head of unit of
Community Medicine, doctors of other faculties and doctors of faculty medicine faculty.
Before the arrival of all doctors refreshments were prepared for the volunteers and the
patients. At about 9.00am we started the medical camp by opening the registration booth. The
booth were placed close by for all the patients to ensure all are able to move around
effectively and there were total of 14 booth which included registration, anthropometry,
blood pressure, blood glucose, ophthalmology, internal medicine, family medicine,
prescription, data entry, breast self-examination, children activities and lastly data entry. The
closing ceremony was done at around 1.30 pm by providing certificate and gifts of
appreciation to the volunteers, doctors and students.

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Registration Booth
Person in charge:

1) Safirrah Binti Siraj
2) Pavithra Arumugam
Registration of the camp started sharply at 8.30am and closed at 12.30pm. A registration
form was given for all those who came for the camp. Around 70 of the residents of Taman
Berlian and the neighborhood joined the medical camp. There were 70 participants including
adults and children. Some of them needed help from the person in charge to fill up the form
as they were not at ease with English. Most of them filled up the registration form by
themself. Overall participants were satisfied with the services we provided in the medical
camp. Throughout the medical camp, we had learned how to communicate well with the
participants with different races and religions.

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Registration Booth

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Anthropometry Booth (Height & Weight)
Person in charge:
1. Betty Wong Sin Liang
2. Chu Jie Wei

Height and weight were measured in order to assess the nutritional status of the participants.
This can be known by calculating the body mass index (BMI) of each participants and
categorized them into underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. Normal range of
BMI is 18.5-24.9. BMI ranging from 25-29.9 indicates overweight, while BMI more than 30
indicates obese. BMI is an estimate of body fat and a good gauge of your risk for diseases
that can occur with more body fat. The higher your BMI, the higher your risk for certain
diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing
problems, and certain cancers. For obese participant, glucose test will further be carried out in
order to detect diabetes mellitus.
There were 74 participants involving in this health assessment. The average height is about
156.5cm whereas average weight is about 62kg. It was found that some participants are in the
overweight category and they were not aware about it. We have given advice for the
overweight and obese participants, for instance lessen the salt and sugar intake, do more
physical exercises to live a healthier life. In children categories, the nutritional status of the
children was assessed according to WHO Growth Standard for Children. All children are
well-nourished and well grown. Overall, we did not have any difficulties in handling the
respondents and they were also very cooperative throughout the medical camp.

Anthropometry station

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Blood pressure booth

Person in charge:
1. Phiong Xin Jie
2. Sasti

Participants start to come in as early as 8.15 a.m. and soon the dewan becomes
more crowded as time goes by. Most of the participants are friendly and none of them shows
any rudeness. We have 2 working automatic BP monitors, so our booth is not crowded and
we managed to perform with good flow. We didn‟t get to use the mercury
sphygmomanometer as there is no participant whose arm can‟t fit into the manual cuff. There
are few participants who have undiagnosed hypertension. When asked, they said the last time
they went for check-up was a long time ago. Most of the hypertensive participants are
compliant to medication although the reading is slightly elevated. Some of the hypertensive
participants forgot to take medications that morning. Overall, the event is fruitful and our BP
measuring booth runs successfully.

Phiong Xin Jie and Sasti checking blood pressure for the patients
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Blood Glucose Screening Booth

Doctor in charge: Assoc. Professor Dr Uma Sankar Akula
Person in charge: Seethu A/L Chandiramurthi

I have to thank Assoc. Professor Dr Uma Sankar Akula who patiently guided me
to learn how to use the glucometer. He was patient, encouraging and most of all
knowledgeable.
The residents of Taman Berlian started to come as early as 8:45 am although it was raining
heavily. The peak hour is around around 10 am where there is a swarm of visitors to the
blood glucose screening booth. Most of them are friendly and patiently wait in line for their
turn. The runners had done a good job by making the waiting time to a shorter period.
Early preparation such as checking the amount of alcohol swab, test strips, lancets and
availability of medical biohazard sharps waste bin and gloves made the blood glucose
screening process to be even more smoother. However, there was a sudden influx of patients
at the first hour which reduced the supply of patients to other booths since we are the earlier
booths. To overcome this problem, I would suggest having two glucometers active rather
than 1. Each glucometer must have 2 people. The first one to load the lancet and strip. The
other one use the lancet to prick the patient. Otherwise, there was an issue of lack of strips
towards the end of the medical camp due to the overwhelming number of patients from
Taman Berlian to the medical camp. I would suggest the future person in charge to check all
equipment a day before to avoid confusion. Overall, I enjoyed being in this booth as I had a
good mentor and friends who helped me throughout the medical camp.

Seethu Chandiramurthi and Dr Uma Sankar Akula taking glucose reading

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Ophthalmology Booth

Doctors in charge: Dr. Christina Gellknight, Dr. Adarsh Bhardwaj
Person-in-charge: Ching Soo Xuan, Daniel Chieng Kai Kiong

The participants were well-greeted while waiting for their turns in getting their
visual acuity checked. Visual acuity was being tested by using a Snellen chart and
participants were asked to read out the alphabets and numbers. The results were being
recorded by person-in-charge. Person-in-charge was also there to help the doctors to translate
their words to the patients and help in giving advice on how to take care of their vision
health. The doctors did thorough examination of their eyes by testing their visual field and
their eye movements. They also use a fundoscope to check their eyes and try to look for any
abnormalities. Some of the participants were presented with xanthelasma, early cataracts, and
arcus senilis due to hypercholesterolemia. Those who had complaints or questions were
answered patiently by the doctors. The participants were seen to be satisfied with the
treatment and enjoying the process. The doctors gave advice to those participants on their
problems such as advising them to change their glasses if they have not been changing it for a
long time. Some of them were being advised on going for an eye check-up from an
optometrist. Some are advised to buy eye drops for dry eyes. Referral letters were given to
those who are in need of further investigation and treatment.
In conclusion, we have learnt much on how to record a patient's vision details in a proper
manner and ways to conduct a thorough eye examination. We were beyond grateful for Dr
Christina and Dr Bhardwaj for guiding us throughout the medical camp. We were able to gain
insights on how to communicate with the patient and use proper techniques as consultants.

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Internal Medicine Booth

Doctor in charge: Dr Ajai Pratap Singh
Person in charge: Keerthana Ravee
Summary of activities:-
About 70 patients were present at the medical camp. Short case clerking and general physical
examination was done to all of the patients. Most of the patients were having underlying
diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidaemia.
My job was to assist the doctor by translating the patient‟s history and relay the doctor‟s
instructions to the patients. In addition, we interpreted the BMI, blood glucose and blood
pressure parameters that were recorded in previous stations to the patients, giving them a
general idea of how well controlled their conditions are. The diagnosis was made based on
their current complaint, blood parameters and general examination findings and advice were
given to patients on lifestyle changes such as diet control especially for those with poor blood
glucose control and high blood pressure level.
Few patients visited our booth with complaints of shoulder pain and leg pain for the past few
days. As for them, simple stretching exercises were advised.Medications and supplements
were prescribed for those who needed only and mostly supplements for nerves were
prescribed to the patients because most of them complained of having numbness in their legs.
Around 4 patients were given referral letters for further investigation and treatment at
government clinics or hospitals.
Few problems arose during the camp. The 1st problem that was encountered during the camp
was the language barrier. Some of the Chinese patients were unable to understand both
English and Bahasa Melayu. Luckily, we managed to get help from Eunice Loh, Ho Sook
Fun and Daniel who alternatively took turn according to their availability to translate the
patient‟s history.
The 2nd problem was towards the end, the family medicine booth was not available and all
the patients were directed to the internal medicine booth. The waiting queue was quite long
but it managed effectively as Chong Poi Sun from Family Medicine Booth joined us. Also,
Dr.Usha Rani Singh and Chung Yee Jiat helped us to manage the internal medicine patients.
These made the whole flow smooth and able to manage the patient effectively.

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Family Medicine

Doctor in charge: Dr Sawri Rajan L. Rajagopal Naidu
Person in charge: Chong Pooi Sun
Summary of activities:-
About 70 patients were present at the medical camp. Short case clerking and general physical
examination was done for patients. Most of the patients were having underlying diabetes
mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia.
During the medical camp, I assisted Dr. Sawri in carrying out physical examinations,
translating the patient‟s history and relay the doctor‟s instructions to the patients. Moreover,
we interpreted the blood glucose, blood pressure and BMI parameters that were recorded in
previous stations to the patients, giving them a general idea of how well controlled their
conditions are. The diagnosis was made based on their current complaint, blood parameters
and general examination findings. Advices were given to patients on lifestyle changes such as
diet control especially for those with poor blood glucose control and high blood pressure
level.
Medications and supplements were prescribed for those who were in need and mostly vitamin
C and vitamin B complex supplements were prescribed to the patients. Around 2 patients
were given referral letters for further investigation and treatment at government clinics or
hospitals.
I have to thank Dr. Sawri who patiently guided me in short case clerking and physical
examination. He was patient, encouraging and knowledgeable. Overall, I enjoyed being in
this booth as I had a good mentor and friends who helped me throughout the medical camp.

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Paediatrics Booth

Doctor: Prof. Usha Rani Singh
Assistant: Chung Yee Jiat
Summary of activities:
There were 10 children, aged from 3 to 15 years old, attending the camp. Simple
history taking was done and general examination was done to all of the children. Most
of them were healthy and had no medical issues. The underweight children were
advised to take vitamins and eat well based on the food pyramid. An obese child was
advised to exercise regularly and reduce fatty food intake.
One child was under prednisolone to control his nephrotic syndrome and he was
advised to monitor his growth and development. Although he was taking steroids for a
long time, he did not have any complications so far.
Towards the end of the camp, our booth helped to consult some of the patients from
the internal medical booth as there were too many of them waiting. Most of them had
chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Advice was given to control their
diseases such as compliance with their medication, diet control and annual check-up.

Advice was given to the father of the 5 years old child with Nephrotic syndrome.

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Prescriptions

Doctor in charge: Dr. Theigi
Person in charge: Anuthra, Praveenash
Summary of Activities:
I have to thank Dr Theigi who patiently guided us to prescribe the medication to patients. She
was patient, encouraging and taught us about medication. Early preparation such as checking
the amount of medication, expiry date of medication and types of medication has been done
to make sure the event goes on smoothly. We helped to sort out the medications that are
needed for the residents. Furthermore, we also dispensed the medicine and explained to them
how to take the medication. Then, give advice/counseling for them on their daily lifestyle and
some preventive measures for some medical conditions.

Kids activity

Person in charge: Tan Ker Shing
Summary of activities:
Total numbers of participants were 10. There was a coloring contest held for the children,
aged from 3 to 12 years old. The contest took place under a tent built outside the hall. It
started from 10am to 12pm. The participants took part actively in the contest. They enjoyed
themselves and also had an opportunity to make friends with each other. At the end of the
competition, the participants with the best coloring picture were given an exclusive prize as
the winners of the competition. We have chosen the best three coloring pictures as the
winners and two for the consolation prizes. All of the participants were given some goodies
as a gift of appreciation for their participation.

Preparing the prizes for the winners Two brothers were taking part in the coloring contest

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Refreshment

Person in Change: Shaktish Letchumanan
: Piravind Tamilarasan

Refreshments started from 8.30 to 12.30. Nasi lemak, Mee hoon, a goodie bag (toothpaste,
bun, mineral water), mineral water, coffee was served to the participants. The food and drinks
were fully sponsored by Safirah‟s parents (nasi lemak) ; Persatuan Kebajikan Masyarakat
India (Mee Hoon, Coffee Mineral, mineral water, bun, coffee, bag ) ; Aimst dental faculty
( Toothpaste). All the food and drinks arrived at 8.30. The mee hoon was given in a big plate;
To reduce the contamination and reduce spillage of food we packed the food in plastic
containers. Then the goodie bags were also prepared on spot. The nasi lemak was prepacked.
Once the participants finished their checkup they were each given a goodie bag and the food
of their liking was served. In between of the camp mineral water was also given to the
lecturers to each booth. All the food was finished and none was wasted. The participants of
the medical camp enjoyed the food amenities and hospitality received.By 12.30 all the food
and drinks was finished and the table and chairs were cleaned. I would like to thank all the
sponsors for the kind act and my group mates who have helped me throughout the camp.

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Dental Booth

Doctors involved :Dr Jamilah Hassan
Dr Jegarajan Pillai

Nurses involved: Ms Margeret Salvam Kuppusamy
Ms Sarojini Gopal Naidu
Ms Vimala Theagrajan

Student in charge: Shaline Uthamen
Summary of activities:
Dental booth was accompanied by two doctors and three nurses from faculty of dentistry of
AIMST University. All of them were very humble, kind and friendly. 68 participants were
involved in the dental booth. The doctors examine the teeth of the participants and give them
advice on proper dental care. Patients with mild, moderate and severe dental problems were
given appointment to come to AIMST Dental Hospital for further checkup. The doctors
examine the patients teeth, gums and oral hygiene. They guided the patients on proper teeth
brushing and gum care. We also had few pediatric patients. The doctors treat the children
gently to avoid them from getting fear. The nurses demonstrate them on how to brush teeth
properly using the model. They give all the patients tooth paste and dental kit. Overall the
dental booth was a success. All the participants went home with satisfaction.

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Breast Self Examination (BSE)

Doctor in charge: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Leela Anthony
Student in charge: Ho Sook Fun

Summary of the activity:

Breast Self-Examination (BSE) station aims to give the goal of raising the public's
awareness for breast cancer and increase knowledge about its early detection through breast
self-examination. Before beginning the education talk about breast self-examination by Dr.
Leela, I arranged 3 to 4 women who had done 70% of their medical station into a group and
led them to the room that were prepared for BSE talk. Dr Leela started the education talk by
give brief introduction of breast cancer in Malaysia and explained the importance on why
women need to have breast self-examination once in a month. Then, Dr Leela demonstrated
the steps on how to perform breast self-examination.
Firstly, before taking bath, it is encouraged to stand in front of the mirror to look for 5 things
which were the breast size, symmetry, the skin texture, the appearance of nipple to see if it
was everted or inverted, and lastly used finger to squeeze the nipple to look for any abnormal
discharge such as blood and pus. Besides that, Dr Leela explained the situation on why do we
have inverted nipple and simple pathology part of breast cancer. Dr Leela talked about the
perfect timing to do breast self-examination and avoid performing it before menstruation.
After that, we had a question and answer session opened to the audience. Dr Leela cleared
their doubts by answering their questions in patience and professional way. After clearing
their doubts, they were welcomed to come in front to perform breast examination by their
own on the mannequin that we borrowed from CSC. Dr Leela and I were guided them when
they forget some of the steps.
This BSE talk had run and repeated for about 3 to 4 cycles on that day. I have noticed that
this talk had successfully on giving good knowledge on how to perform BSE and preventive
measure to breast cancer to the women who lived at Taman Berlian. Last but not least, I hope
that the women at Taman Berlian can get some benefits from this education talk about BSE
and raise the awareness of breast cancer, as the saying goes “Prevention always better than
cure”.

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Indian Cultural Society of AIMST University
26th Sep 2022 – 05th Oct 2022

The Indian Cultural Society of AIMST University organized a grand celebration in
conjunction of Navarathiri 2022, supported by all faculties, administrative staff, and students.
This celebration was intended to share the joy of this festive together with the staff and students of
AIMST University. This celebration helped to strengthen the concept of unity in diversity among the
members of the club and the other staff and students. In addition, this event also helped to educate the
participants on the importance and uniqueness of this festival as well as the Indian culture. The daily
prayers were conducted by a lecturer who is well aware of the customs and procedures of the prayer;
hence we get to ensure that everything was done accordingly and correctly.

This Navarathiri celebration was organized for nine days, from the 26th of September to the
5th of October 2022 from 7.00pm to 8.30pm at the Orientation Hall,AIMST University where the
traditional custom of this festival called „Golu‟ was set up and decorated beautifully every day. Each
day of this celebration was sponsored by one of the faculty or department. The prasadham for each
day was sponsored by Jaya catering.

We managed to conduct the event smoothly without any shortcomings. We had a shortage of
people now and then to assist due to examination but we managed to pull it off. Apart from that, the
flow and organization were great, the Navarathiri celebration was successfully completed achieving
all the objectives.
Day 1: 26.09.2022
The first day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Maheswari. AIMST Marketing Department was
the sponsor of the day. Dr Jagadeesh delivered a speech about Navarathiri and the tradition of it. Later
the food was distributed to all devotees, sponsored by Jaya Catering.

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Day 2: 27.09.2022
The second day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Kowmaari. AIMST Student Admission
Division and Exam Division were the sponsors. Dr Jagadeesh delivered a speech about Navarathiri
and its tradition. Bhajans were performed by Saranya and Shereen. Later, the prasaatham was
distributed to Ms Vickneswari represented the Student Admission Division by Dr M Bala Sundaram
as a token of appreciation and Food was distributed to all the participants.

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Day 3: 28.09.2022
The third day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Vaarahi. Faculty of Business and Management
was the sponsor of the day. Mr Raguraman delivered a speech on Devi Vaarahi and her specialty.
Susequently, Mr Adwin Raj and Ms Shaveena were performed a recital of devotional songs.

Day 4: 29.09.2022
The fourth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Mahalakshmi. The sponsor for the day was
Faculty of Pharmacy. Dr Parasuraman has delivered a speech about Madurai Meenakshi and narrated
her stories. The Food sponsored by Jaya Catering was delivered to all with vote of thanks by our club
advisor Dr M Bala Sundaram.

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Day 5: 30.09.2022
The fifth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Vaishnavi. Human Resources Department and
Registry were the sponsors. Mr. Raguraman has given the speech about Lord Shiva. The Tabla
performance (musical instrument) by Mr Raveenesh has added a flavor to this celebration in addition
with the bhajans.

Day 6: 01.10.2022
The sixth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Indraani. The sponsor of this day was AIMST
Security Department. The pooja was performed after the classical dance by three students and a
devotional song by Prof Dr Krishnan Rajam.

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Day 7: 02.10.2022
The seventh day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Saraswathi. AIMST Chancellery was the
sponsor of the day. The classical dance performance by a group of six students and bhajans by Dr
Neeraj and Shivkanya Fuloria were added a flavour to this celebration.

Day 8: 03.10.2022
The eighth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Durga. The Faculty of Dentistry was the
sponsor of the day. The classical dance was performed by a group of small children‟s of our staff.

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Day 9: 04.10.2022
The ninth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Saamundi. The Faculty of Medicine was the
sponsor of this day. All were blessed to listen the special invited talk given by Swami Bhavanji
through Zoom followed by The Dean Prof. K R Sethuraman. We distributed more than 200 pens to all
the participants who have attended the prayers sponsored by Dr M Bala Sundaram and Mr
Khaniamuthan Family which symbolizes the start of education and widening Knowledge. The food
was distributed to all, sponsored by Jaya Catering.

Day 10: 05.10.2022
The tenth day of the celebration was dedicated to Devi Vijaya. The School of General and Foundation
Studies was the sponsor of this day. Dr M Bala Sundaram has delivered a talk on Devi Vijaya who
symbolizes the victory, also he summarized the uniqueness and peculiarity of this celebration with
vote of thanks to all the sponsors, supporters and participants.

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