KOTA KINABALU: A medical teaching hospital is needed to provide a more comprehensive learning and teaching environment for students, said dean of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) School of Medicine, Professor Dr Osman Ali.Osman said students currently went to Hospital Bukit Padang and Queen Elizabeth Hospital but was facing problems in traffic and transportation.
He also said the university had proposed a medical teaching hospital under the 10MP, but was declined.
“I hope more people are aware of the importance of a medical teaching hospital in Sabah, as what we have in Peninsular,” he said at a press conference during the first International Mental Health Conference at UMS here yesterday, adding that there were currently 320 medical students in the university.
The conference, themed “Mental Health – The Essence of Life”, also involved 43 delegates from other universities.
They are Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, University College Sedaya International, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and from Indonesia, University of Padjajaran, University of Sriwijaya, University of Brawijaya, University of Gajahmada and University of Indonesia.
Around 100 UMS medical students and the delegates will hold a health promotion in Kudat on April 24 to provide health screening and education on diseases.
Osman added that the university was also involved in Pupuk, a partnership between UMS and the local community.
“Under the programme, we have a foster family for each student to promote health to the communities.” Also present at the press conference were head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Therapeutics from the School of Medicine, Perumal Ramasamy, organising chairperson of the conference, Cheo Seng Wee, senior lecturer at the School of Medicine, Dr Wendy Shoesmith, and associate professor in clinical psychology in the School of Medicine, Dr N Kumaraswamy.