Dec 28, 2015
By Olivia Miwil
Likas Women and Children's hospital paediatric consultant surgeon Dr S. Rajah (second left) and director Dr Tan Bee Hwai (third left) during the hospital annual paediatric family day. |
The hospital's consultant paediatric surgeon Dr S. Rajah, said when the state's paediatric unit started in 1992 at Queen Elizabeth hospital here, it was the first of its kind outside Kuala Lumpur and there were only two medical officers and a specialist.
"More than 20 years after the unit moved to Likas hospital, we now have six medical officers, two specialists and trainees from Univeristi Malaya,' he said, adding that better facilities and more trained paediatric surgeons were the reasons the hospital was able to provide surgeries that were on par with hospitals in developed countries.
Speaking at the annual paediatric surgical unit Family Day event recently, Dr Rajah, who is among the pioneers of the unit, said the hospital could perform four surgeries a week as the paediatric ward had 40 beds.
Surgical services were not only performed at the hospital as the team would also go to district hospitals to perform surgeries, such as repairing cleft lip or palate, undescended testes or fixing the opening of urethra for children.
In severe or urgent cases, we either airlift a baby or the team would fly on a helicopter to the district hospitals to help them.
"It is very crucial to perform certain procedures at the right time with proper management to prevent children from dying or suffering long-tern disabilities," said Dr Rajah, who had performed and overlooked more than 20,000 operations since 1992.
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