KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — The Malaysian Family Medicine Specialists’ Association (FMSA) yesterday touted the role of family medicine specialists and public health medicine specialists as the pillar of primary care.
FMSA president Dr Nor Hazlin Talib said both specialties were very unique and had different functions and roles, but shared the same agenda and aspirations.
“Under public health, family medicine specialists (FMS) and public health medicine specialists are the two specialties that form the pillar and movers of health care at the primary care level,” Dr Nor Hazlin said in a speech at the Family Medicine Scientific Conference (FMSC) 2024 organised by FMSA in Johor Baru, Johor, yesterday.
She added that the FMSC, with its “Embracing the Challenges of Change: Road to Champion” theme, was aimed at measuring the achievements of FMSA and the family medicine fraternity over the past more than two decades.
FMSA, which was registered in 2001, currently has more than 1,000 members, majority of whom are family medicine specialists from the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and the Ministry of Defence, as well as partner general practitioners (GPs).
FMSA members have also made their mark on the international stage, such as Dr Albert Yong Kui Choon who won the WONCA Rising Star Award 2023 and the Rajakumar Movement Rising Star Award 2023 during the WONCA Conference Sydney in Australia, organised by the World Organisation of Family Doctors.
“We are also proud of the achievements of young FMS who won the main awards for oral and poster research presentations at outside conferences, like the Malaysian Society of Hypertension Annual Scientific Conference, National Obesity Scientific Conference, Malaysian Diabetes Educators Society Conference 2024, the National O&G Congress, and many more,” Dr Nor Hazlin said.
“These achievements show that family medicine specialists aren’t just champions in our own country, but also internationally.”
More than 1,000 local and international participants, including health care and allied health science professionals in primary care– took part in the FMSC that was officiated by Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
“With rapid demographic changes, the rising burden of chronic disease, and increasingly complex illnesses, the role of family medicine in the health sector is increasingly important,” the MOH said in a statement yesterday.
“In this context, family doctors need to increase their knowledge and skills to provide the best holistic health care to patients and communities.
“The ministry’s initiatives in digitalisation and movement to precision population health – including the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR), digital health devices powered by artificial intelligence, and genomic medicine – will contribute towards the government’s objective of better health indicators for the people as a whole.”
Topics that will be addressed in the four-day FMSC from September 4 to 7 include child and adolescent health, women’s and men’s health, elderly care, communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as palliative care.
Malaysia is currently facing a non-communicable disease (NCD) crisis. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2023, nearly 2.3 million adults in the country live with three NCDs among diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, or obesity. More than half a million adults are living with all four chronic conditions.
