YDM Newsletter: The Rajakumar Movement - Dec 2022
The Rajakumar Movement – YDM Asia Pacific Region
The second half of the year is filled with many exciting activities. The Executive and Council of The Rajakumar Movement (TRM) has been working hard to plan and prepare.
July 2022
We had our first collaboration webinar with WONCA Working Party / Special Interest Group for this year. TRM is honoured to work together with the distinguished WONCA Working Party for Mental Health in organizing a webinar on Mental Health in Primary Care: Clinical Depression on 2nd July 2022 (Saturday), 8.00pm (Malaysia Time). We had two renowned speakers Dr Darien and Dr Flavio shared with us on depression. Patient with depression can present with somatic or cultural expressions of their psychological distress. Some of the challenges in identifying depression in primary care are limitation of time, competing priorities and patient agendas. We can help our patient with depression by administering Low intensity psychosocial interventions (LIPI). It is simple and effective!
September 2022
The Rajakumar Movement Research Group had successfully organized a Panel Discussion on September. It was an excellent discussion by the expert panelists: Assoc. Prof Dr Indah Widyahening, Assist. Prof Dr Tin Myo Han and Dr Maria Elinore M Alba-Concha. The sharing and lessons learned were invaluable. Thank you to TRM team for the great teamwork and support.
TRM participated and supported the activity by WONCA YDM. We joined the Webinar Series 1 on The Young Family Doctor and Environmental Changes organized by Movimiento Waynakay in collaboration with the Working Party on the Environment. Dr Chloe Chan, our TRM representative from Hong Kong assisted in the translation to Chinese. Well done to the team. It was a wonderful sharing by all the expert panelists.
October 2022
Despite the unforeseen challenges, the Virtual FM360 Exchange of The Spice Route and The Rajakumar Movement (TRM) was successfully held. It was a great collaboration with informative presentation and video showcase of Primary Care / Family Medicine practices in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Thailand. Thank you Dr Sankha Randenikumara for the opening remarks. Special thanks to Dr Suthiwat Khumngoen and Dr Gobith Ratnam for leading the event. For TRM, the presentation started with a moment of silence as a respect for the demise of Professor Datuk Dr DM Mahendran Thuraiappah, who was very instrumental in the formation of TRM and contributed vastly in Primary Care. He will be remembered and missed dearly.
Dr Teoh Hong Chin represented Malaysia and shared a very nice video on the Private General Practice.
Dr Suthiwat Khumngoen never failed to amaze everyone with his creativity and video for Thailand.
Our friends from The Spice Route shared wonderful videos on the Primary Care in India, Pakistan. Many thanks to all presenters, facilitators and participants.
TRM supported and participated in the posting statements by YDM WONCA in conjunction with Astana Declaration Anniversary. Global young doctors committed to strive for Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals by strengthening primary healthcare!
November 2022
The Rajakumar Movement organized a wonderful collaborative webinar on Fall in older persons with WONCA Special Interest Group (SIG) on Ageing and Health. We are grateful to have the Convenor, Prof Dr Constance Dimity Pond, and SIG expert members Prof Dr Saniya Sabzwari, Dr Mercy Nafula Wanjala and Prof Dr Ngaire Kerse to share with us on the assessment of fall in older adults, prevention of falls: QI & Patient Safety Approach and setting up aged care and hospitals. It was an informative webinar as Family Doctors deals with falls (from prevention, treatment, audit to research). The webinar was well attended by friends, colleagues and seniors from the Asia Pacific Region as well as from other regions. Thank you Dr Sankha Randenikumara for the opening remarks. Special thanks to all TRM team and translators (Dr Brando Cantu and Dr Chloe Chan).
December 2022
TRM in Bali, Indonesia
More than 3 years after the last face-to-face young doctors’ pre-conference in the Asia-Pacific region in Kyoto in 2019, The Rajakumar Movement (TRM), through the Indonesian representative, Dr. Marshell Timotius, successfully organized the young doctors pre-conference and networking dinner during the WONCA Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Bali on 5 December 2022 with the theme “Build Your Future as a Family Medicine Specialist.”
Associate Professor Dato’ Dr. Mohammad Husni Jamal, President of the WONCA Asia Pacific Region opened the session and urged TRM to continue expanding the horizon for the young family doctors in the Asia Pacific region and in the world.
Dr. Wong Ping Foo, chair of TRM delivered a welcome message virtually and expressed his gratitude to the organizing committee and participants. Then, Dr. Sankha Randenikumara, young doctor representative to the WONCA World, shared his thoughts on FM speciality and about various young doctors’ movements in the world.
For session 1: Young Doctors Movement in the Asia Pacific Region, Dr. Mel Anthony Acuavera, secretary of TRM, shared the mission and programs of TRM and urged young doctors from the Asia Pacific Region to continue supporting the activities of the movement. Dr. Suthiwat Khumngoen, Thailand representative, shared the numerous and amazing activities of the young doctors in Thailand. While Dr. Phoebe Holdenson-Kimura and Dr. Wee Sian Woon presented virtually the activities of the young doctors in Australia and invited all to attend the WONCA World Conference in Sydney on 26-29 October 2023.
This was followed by session 2: Professional Sharing on Family Medicine Practice. Dr. Mya Win Hnit, Myanmar representative, shared the family medicine education, its challenges, the opportunities and his practice as a young family doctor in Myanmar. Dr. Elaine Chua and Dr. Grace Chiang shared the progress of family medicine and their professional experiences as family doctors in Singapore. Additionally, Dr. Fitriana Ekawati shared the family medicine education, challenges and opportunities in family practice in Indonesia. This was followed by a small group discussion wherein the participants had the opportunity to share their own experiences, challenges and opportunities as young family doctors in their own countries.
Finally, for session 3, Dr. Darien Cipta, discussed the importance of maintaining wellbeing and mental health for young doctors. Dr. Cipta shared steps and tips on reducing stress and taking care of mental health.
Dr. Isti Ilmiati Fujiati, Chair of the Indonesian Association of Family Physicians closed the session and formally launched, together with Dr. Marshell Timotius, the Indonesia young doctors’ movement.
To cap off the pre-conference,TRM, through Dr. Erfen Suwangto, immediate past chair of TRM, organized the networking dinner wherein the young doctors had the opportunity to get-to-know each other and shared their experiences as young family doctors. They also shared their talents through song and dance presentations and enjoyed the various games.