Healthcare Today with Manvir Victor: Health director-general kicks off podcast

A LITTLE over 20 years ago, I went to a private hospital to get a blood test done as I was feeling very lethargic and ill.

The resulting blood test was handed to a nephrologist at the hospital. I didn’t even know at that time what a nephrologist did specifically. 

The grizzled, experienced doctor met me in his clinic after I had waited for an hour, looked at the result, pointed to a machine in his clinic and said pompously, “Manvir, that is a dialysis machine, you need to be on that next Monday.”

I looked at him in shock. Then he got up and said his nurse will take care of the rest and left! Needless to say, this has been a very scarring visit to the doctor for me.

Upon asking for a second opinion from a friend of mine, I was sent to the then Subang Jaya Medical Centre, another private facility, to meet another doctor. 

Thankfully, this one was kind, attentive and sympathetic. After more tests he patiently and with so much empathy, explained that we could try a few alternative treatments before going down the dialysis route.

This was Dr Prasad Menon. He saved my life. 

Since then, after my life-transforming kidney transplant in 2012 and 10 years on dialysis, I was recommended to the World Health Organisation to be trained as a patient advocate.

I’m still the Chair for Patient Safety Malaysia and on the board of a few healthcare organisations both locally and globally. 

I’ve met and still meet my fair share of good and “bad” doctors. None of them ever set out to be bad doctors, I believe. Circumstances, training, systems and processes that failed them have created all these doctors and nurses.

Everyone deals with problems differently, and healthcare professionals are no different. 

As a patient advocate who has travelled and spoken at Cape Town, South Africa to our neighbourhood hospitals, I’ve learnt of so many new innovations that have yet to be introduced here. 

In our first episode, we speak to Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director-general of the Health Ministry.

Find out how Malaysia can improve its healthcare system and as well the question of the day – is there a resurgence of Covid-19 with the latest numbers increasing? 

In this exclusive interview, we get to know more about our healthcare delivery system and what we, as the rakyat, need to do to keep ourselves healthier as the ministry begins its emphasis on wellness.

Join me on this podcast series as we dissect, study our healthcare systems. Learn the best practices, ideas, systems and processes that we can easily implement to help every one of us have better care. 

Suggestions and comments are welcome at @manvirvictor on Twitter for a 360-degree look at healthcare and how to improve it. – The Vibes, November 9, 2022