Raman (third from right) and Mohammed (third from left) exchanging the MoU documents.
KOTA KINABALU (Sept 22): A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Social Security Organisation (Socso) to enable both parties to carry out strategic collaborations to benefit Sabah’s community.
The cooperation will support the efforts of both UMS and Socso to expand rehabilitation facilities in Sabah through the preparation of the facilities at Hospital UMS.
This effort will benefit not just people insured by Socso but also the entire local community.
The MoU was signed by Socso Chief Executive Dato’ Sri Dr Mohammed Azman bin Dato’ Aziz Mohammed and UMS Deputy Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Alumni, Professor Madya Dr Raman B. Noordin, who is currently carrying out the duties of the Vice Chancellor for the university.
It was witnessed by the Executive Director of Socso, Tun Abdul Razak’s Rehabilition Centre, Datuk Dr Hafez Hussain and UMS Registrar, Luqman Ridha Anwar.
The MoU will also allow both parties to venture into two-way collaboration in the aspect of teaching, learning, research and innovation in various fields, especially in rehabilitation medicine, intervention, neurology, mental health, allied health skills, robotic intervention, vocational training, occupational safety and health, disability management and Socso’s Return to Work (RTW) programme.
This strategic cooperation will enable UMS and Socso to expand the delivery of their services in their respective specialties.
Dr Raman said that UMS and Socso are committed to promote, to raise awareness and improve the accesibility to quality rehabilitation treatement in Sabah.
“The comprehensive scope of cooperation will bring about a significant impact in addressing the main problem in getting the rehabilitation treatment which is the burden of the patient’s treatment cost. With the existence of the funding through schemes offered by Socso, the achievement of patients at Hospital UMS will be wider,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohammed Azmad said that the MoU is a new hope for Socso contributors who have been afflicted by accidents or illnesses in Sabah, under the comprehensive and dynamic rehabilitation and disability management programme.
He added that the RTW was introduced in 2007 and since then and until 16 September, this year, a total of 49,851 RTW participants have been successfully assisted to return to work.
“We are confident that this collaboration with UMS will be able to help more contributors to become independent and return to productivity,” he said.
He added that under the bilateral cooperation, Socso intends to set up a MYFutureJobs Satellite Center on UMS campus ground so that UMS undergraduates and graduates can benefit from Socso’s various employment services such as career counseling, job search and matching as well as individual support for job placement as well as preparations for interview.