PIONEER NEUROSURGEON IN MALAYSIA
Dato’ (Dr) Nadason Arumugasamy, who has passed away on 19th December 2003 at the age of 69, was the most senior and influential Neurosurgeon in Malaysia. He was the first Malaysian Neurosurgeon and throughout his career he has been tireless in promoting and developing Neurosurgery in his home country. He started his career in Neurosurgery in 1963 as the first Medical officer in Neurosurgery under Dr. Roy Selby, the American Neurosurgeon who started neurosurgical service in Malaysia in the same year under the United States of America CARE /MEDICO Program.Dato’ Aru (as he was usually referred to) was the first Malaysian Neurosurgeon to be trained in United State of America. Dato’ Aru was the first local Neurosurgeon to practise in this country in December 1969. Today, thirty-four years later, there are a total of thirty-four Malaysian Neurosurgeons currently practising in this country. All but a small handful of these neurosurgeons, at some stage of their careers, had received neurosurgical training at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Institute of Neurosciences. The more senior ones had the unforgettable and privileged experience of being personally tutored by Dato’ Aru himself. Dato’ Aru has blazed the trail for Neurosurgery in the country and he has left a legacy we Malaysians are forever thankful.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEUROSURGERY AS A SPECIALTY IN MEDICINE
Neurosurgery in Malaysia was first established in 1964 under the United States of America CARE / MEDICO programme. An American neurosurgeon, Dr Roy Selby started the neurosurgical unit in Hospital Kuala Lumpur with the help of a group of local doctors and nurses headed by the late Dato’ Dr Nadason Arumugasamy. He later became the first local neurosurgeon in this country. The service was then rather rudimentary and had limited facilities and infrastructure.It was only in 1975 when the Tunku Abdul Rahman Neuroscience Institute was officially opened in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. This institute consisted of three allied and interdependent disciplines of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. Since then, neurosurgical services have expanded to 7 government hospitals, 4 teaching hospitals and numerous private hospitals in the country. Moreover, the demand for this specialty service has been increasing. At the moment there are 74 neurosurgeons in this country, serving 28 million people, but only 45 are in the public sector. There is an acute shortage, especially in the east coast, northern region of the peninsula and East Malaysia. However, it is still considered a vast improvement as compared to 2004 when there were only 36 neurosurgeons in this country. A comprehensive, minimum of 4 years, local training programme in collaboration with international faculties was established in 2001. This programme has increased the number of trained neurosurgeons in the country since 2005. The Ministry of Health Malaysia is planning to increase at least 3 more neurosurgical centres in the near future, which will significantly improve the coverage of neurosurgical services and patient care, especially in the management of neuro-trauma cases which are still a major problem in this country. The Ministry of Health is committed to support recent advancements in neurosurgery by bringing in new operating microscopes, image guidance navigation systems and new instruments in almost all the government hospitals over the last 3 years. We are also in the midst of setting up a new, cutting edge brain suite operation theatre in one of our hospitals. Coupled with the emphasis on training programmes in the respective subspecialties, we are aiming to provide high quality neurosurgical care of international standard for our patients.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Creating a Neurologist
In the United States and Canada, neurologists
are physicians who have completed postgraduate training in neurology after
graduation from medical school. Neurologists complete, on
average, at least 10–12 years of college education and clinical training. This
training includes obtaining a four-year undergraduate degree, a medical degree,
which is an additional four years, and then completing a three or four-year
residency in neurology. The four-year residency consists of one year of
internal medicine training followed by three years of training in neurology.
One and two year fellowships are available following completion of the
neurology residency if desired.
Many neurologists also have additional
subspecialty training (fellowships) after completing their residency in one
area of neurology such as stroke or vascular neurology, interventional neurology, epilepsy,
neuromuscular, neurorehabilitation, behavioral neurology, sleep medicine,
pain management, neuroimmunology, clinical neurophysiology, or movement
disorders.
In Germany, a compulsory year of psychiatry must
be done to complete a residency of neurology.
 |
| Harvard Medical School |
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, neurology is
a subspecialty of general (internal) medicine. After five to nine years of
medical school and a year as a pre-registration house officer (or two years on
the Foundation Programme) a neurologist must pass the examination for Membership of the Royal College of
Physicians (or the Irish equivalent) before entering specialist
training in neurology. A generation ago some neurologists would also spend a
couple of years working in psychiatric units and obtain a Diploma in
Psychological Medicine, but that became uncommon and now that a basic
psychiatric qualification takes three years to obtain it is no longer
practical. A period of research is essential, and obtaining a higher degree
aids career progression: many found it was eased after an attachment to the
Institute of Neurology at Queen Square in London. Some neurologists enter the
field of rehabilitation medicine (known as physiatry in
the US) to specialise in neurological rehabilitation, which may include stroke
medicine as well as brain injuries.
·
Neurologists are medical
professionals who are specialists in the field of diagnosing and treating
conditions that affect the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord)
and the peripheral nervous system (the nerves, nerve roots and muscles). They
perform neurological tests on different parts of the nervous system and often
examine the muscle movement, reflexes, sensation and other cognitive abilities,
in order to properly diagnose and treat related disorders. In order to become
specialists of the nervous system, medical practitioners need to undergo
extensive specialized training after completing medical school.
·
A medical student must
first concentrate on becoming a medical doctor or a doctor of osteopathy, by
completing an undergraduate program plus a medical degree of 4 years and a year
of internship (with minimum of 8 months of internal medicine).
·
After internship, the
medical doctor must complete a neurology residency requirement of 3 years.
Residency programs must be certified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education (ACGME). These programs help in providing exposure to
hospital and ambulatory care settings, educational conferences and research
trainings. After completion of the residency training, neurologists may join a
subspecialty fellowship program specializing in movement disorders, stroke and
dementia. Further, physicians interested in child neurology have three options
for completion of their initial residency: 1 year in internal medicine followed
by 1 year in pediatrics, 2 years in pediatrics residency or 1 year in research
and 1 year in pediatrics.
·
Medical doctors must be
licensed by their state and then can seek board certification from the American
Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) or the American Board of Medical
Specialties (ABMS). Only physicians who have a high degree of skill in the
field of neurology are certified. Before getting board certification, a doctor
must complete 3 years of residency in neurology, must possess a medical license
and clear both written and oral exams of the ABPN. Certification from the ABPN
has to be renewed from time to time.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Professional Associations
- American Neurological Association
The American Neurological Association is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic sciences; and to expanding both our understanding of diseases of the nervous system and our ability to treat them.
Our Goals
1. To disseminate knowledge about the nervous system and its diseases by:
- Presenting new scientific basic and clinical information at an annual meeting
- Publishing a scientific journal
- Formulating and promoting high standards of neurologic practice
2. To promote research into the causes and treatment of diseases of the nervous system by:
- Attracting promising physicians into academic neurology and supporting their development
- Advocating financial support from government, industry and individuals for research on the nervous system and its disorders
3. To formulate and promote policies and actions which will support the goals of academic neurology by:
- Providing a unified voice for academic neurology
- Setting guidelines and assuring excellence in programs that train and educate physicians in neurology
- Raising the standard of neurologic training of all physicians
- Malaysian Society of Neurosciences
- We are a Society that was founded in 1989 and is a non-profit organization geared to disseminating the knowledge of neurosciences amongst the professionals and the public. Our members come from varied disciplines related to the neurosciences namely, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropaediatricians, neuropathologists, neuro-anatomists, neuro-pharmacologists, neuro-biochemists, neuro-psychologists and the like. There are also a sizeable number of medical laboratory technologists and nurses from the various neuro-disciplines who are our Associate Members.Among other things, the Society is strongly committed towards teaching and the credentialing of our young specialists. We have also formed subspecialty councils to focus and develop their areas of specialty. At present, we have an Epilepsy Subspecialty Council, a Stroke Subspecialty Council and a Chapter of Child Neurology & Developmental Paediatrics. New subspecialty councils will be established as and when necessary.We are proud to say that the Society is a member of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), the ASEAN Neurological Associations (ASNA) and is affiliated to theInternational Brain Research Organization (IBRO).
- World Federation of Neurology
Links for Discussion Forums
Some of the related web pages about Neurology. There is forum created for discussion on this specialty.
The Nature of Work in Neurology
A neurologist specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of all types of disease or impaired function of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, muscles, and autonomic nervous system, as well as the blood vessels that relate to these structures.
Neurologists can receive training in the following subspecialties:
- Clinical Neurophysiology- A neurologist who specializes in the diagnosis and management of central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous system disorders using a combination of clinical evaluation and electrophysiologic testing such as electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and nerve conduction studies (NCS), among others.
- Hospice and Palliative Medicine - prevent and relieve the suffering experienced by patients with life-limiting illness.
- Neurodevelopmental Disabilities - diagnoses and manages chronic conditions that affect the developing and mature nervous system such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation and chronic behavioral syndromes or neurologic conditions.
- Neuromuscular Medicine - diagnoses and manages of disorder of nerves, muscle or neuromuscular junction.
- Pain Medicine - provides a high level of care, either as a primary physician or consultant, for patients experiencing problems with acute, chronic or cancer pain in both hospital and ambulatory settings.
- Sleep Medicine - diagnoses and manages of clinical conditions that occur during sleep, that disturb sleep or that are affected by disturbances in the wake-sleep cycle.
- Vascular Neurology - evaluates, prevents, treats and recovers from vascular diseases of the nervous system.
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