NEW BOOK
NEW BOOK
Family Medicine, Healthcare & Society: Essays By Dr MK Rajakumar
Edited by CL Teng, EM Khoo, CJ Ng
ISBN 978-983-43922-0-8
Published by Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, April 2008
Free copies are available from:
Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, Room 6, MMA House, 5th Floor, 124, Jalan Pahang, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Speech by the Tan Sri Ismail Merican, Director-General, Ministry Of Health, Malaysia, during the Book Launch on 14th April 2008, during the Primary Health Care Conference 2008 in Sunway Pyramid Convent Centre, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Dr MK Rajakumar obtained his medical degree from the University of Malaya in Singapore in 1956. He retired last year, after 45 years of general practice in Kuala Lumpur. For those of us who know him, he has been a man of vision and great energy, having served in various professional bodies, both locally and internationally; among them
- Chairman of Council and President, the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia,
- Vice-President, the Academy of Sciences of Malaysia,
- President, the Malaysian Medical Association,
- President, the World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA)
He has worked tirelessly for many years to develop vocational training for the practising GPs and has also assisted in the development of Masters of Family Medicine in this country. Family medicine is indeed his passion, the importance of which he has discussed extensively in many forums. As far back as 1978, the year of the Alma Ata Declaration, he had exhorted general practitioners to rise to the challenge of providing high quality primary care to the community. In the international stage, he spearheaded the introduction of family medicine to the developing world, especially in Asia; for he believed that “the need for a superior primary care service is greatest in the poorer countries of the world”. In addition, he was among the front runners in the development of the WONCA’s International Classification of Primary Care, the generic classification of health problems seen in family practice.
Beside family medicine and primary care, Dr Rajakumar has also written eloquently about the broader issues confronting the healthcare system and the wider society. In several essays, he shared some of his wisdoms on the medical dilemmas faced by medical professionals: how to embrace medical technology without becoming subservient to it, the need to practise scientific medicine while responding to the patients’ wishes, and the importance of upholding professionalism in the medical marketplace.
This book, Family Medicine, Healthcare & Society: Essays By Dr MK Rajakumar, contains many articles that were written more than three decades ago. The messages contain therein are almost timeless and are still highly relevant today. There are many a useful lessons, not just for the family physicians, but for health professionals in general and for all right thinking individuals who wish to improve the world we live in.