THOMSON HOSPITAL Kota Damansara will be presenting its Thomson GP Plus Symposium on Managing Diseases During Fasting & Festive Season on April 28 from 7.30am to 4.30pm, at the Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara Hotel’s Wau Bulan Ballroom.
Jointly organised with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Selangor, this symposium merits eight Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points out of the 20 required annually by general practitioners (GPs) to meet the requirement set by the Ministry of Health in order to renew their practising licence every year.
The one-day event will see seven specialist doctors from Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara share the latest developments in a string of topics that typically arise during the fasting and festive season, to better equip GPs to help patients who come to them for advice.
They can then educate and guide their patients on how best to handle their health and medication for diseases under special circumstances.
The speakers at the symposium are:
-> consultant endocrinologist and physician Dr Suehazlyn Zainudin, who will talk about managing diabetes during Ramadan;
-> consultant obstetrician, gynaecologist and fertility specialist Dr Nurhazinat Yunus, on how to advise patients about fasting during pregnancy;
-> consultant upper gastrointestinal and bariatric surgeon Dr Reynu Rajan, on the role of bariatric in the management of obesity, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea and infertility;
-> consultant rheumatologist and physician Dr Sarina Kempe, on managing gout during the festive feasting season;
-> consultant clinical haematologist and physician Dr Tengku Ahmad Hidayat, on abnormal blood counts during Ramadan, Syawal and other months;
-> consultant gastroenterologist, hepatologist and physician Dr Rajesh Kumar, on burning and growling during fasting; and
-> consultant rehabilitation and physician Dr Nor Azira Ismail, on keeping fit during fasting.
On why these topics for the symposium, group business development, marketing and communication manager Syahira Mahmud of TMC Life Sciences (which is the parent company of Thomson Hospital), said: “We looked at the diseases that the people suffer from in Ramadan specifically, and spoke to specialist consultants in those fields.”
She said that GPs depend on these specialists to feed them information from the ever-evolving medical world where there is “so much innovation and research happening”, adding that these speciality doctors are usually up to speed on what’s happening in the medical industry.
So when GPs are faced with what treatments or advice to give diabetics or patients with gastric who are also fasting, and how to medicate them, this is where the specialist consultants come in to educate these doctors on how best to treat such patients, said Syahira.
And as certain diseases like diabetes or gout can be especially sensitive to dietary intake, “so it’s not just fasting – it’s fasting and festive, with Raya coming up as well”.
Syahira noted that so far, the symposium has had an “overwhelming response” from GPs with 190 attendees already confirmed to date.
She said it’s not just the timely topics that attracted such a high number of participation but also the relatively high CPD point of eight awarded to GPs attending the talks.
The CPD point is determined by the Malaysian Medical Council based on the topic and number of speakers.
“An eight is considered a lot in the world of CPD points because some talks, for half-day conferences, it’s usually four to five, so when we got eight, we were quite happy with it,” said Syahira.
This is the first event under the Thomson GP Plus Symposium brand since Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara (formerly known as Tropicana Medical Centre) underwent a rebranding exercise last year, which will also see the hospital expanding its bed capacity from 200 to 600 by 2020.
GPs can sign on as a GP Plus member at this Sunday’s symposium to receive more invitations to free health talks and activities, plus discounts on room charges, daycare service, and selected health screening packages under the GP Plus loyalty programme.
Syahira added that the hospital may organise a free health conference in each quarter of the year.
For more, visit the Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara Facebook page.
