Prospect of medical research in Malaysia

Malaysia will be having its own cancer research center, the National Cancer Institute by mid-2008, something promising which I look forward to. All this while I am not particularly aware of the existence of any well-established medical research centers in Malaysia other than National Heart Institute, which I had sort of heard of because that’s where our ex-premier Tun Mahathir had his heart bypass. Also, I supposed most universities in Malaysia should to a certain extent have some ongoing medical researches, or their world ranking would have plunged even more significantly. Also, upon searching online, I only discovered this Institute of Medical Research (IMR), under the Ministry of Health which was established since 1900. That’s like 107 years of history! Well, sorry for my ignorance all this while, but seriously I have never heard of it before.

Medical research in Melbourne, or even in Australia, on the other hand seems to be something so common that the medical research centers sort of establish a brand of their own. Just ask any Malaysian students studying bio-medical related course in Melbourne or even just anyone on the street, and he/she will come out with heaps of medical research centers in Melbourne. Just like when we talk about Nike or Adidas, everyone will know that it’s a sport brand; once you mention the Baker or Peter Mac, everyone will know that it’s the heart centre and the cancer centre. The list goes on with Prince Henry’s the endocrine and hormone research, Burnet the international health research and so on and so forth. And guess what, Baker was established in 1929 and Peter Mac in 1949, which is like 3 decades to half a century later than the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) in Malaysia. Just have a look at the website of these research institutes and compare for yourself how each of them fares respectively (well, I am not looking down on IMR, in fact I would say that their website is much better than many other Malaysian government websites)

Ok, back in Malaysia, though the establishment of National Cancer Institute is something auspicious, the prospect of medical research does not seem very bright for the time being. Let’s have a deeper consideration into one of those important aspects of development of medical research - the training of young future researcher, which is severely lack in Malaysia. Well, undoubtedly internet is a very good source of searching for these research opportunities for medical students and I can tell you that there are heaps of those opportunities in Australia if you take the effort to look for it. And I would say that I am among the lucky ones to be accepted for one of those vacation research projects during this summer holiday, which I reckon have given me a valuable learning experience in laboratory skills as well as a peek into a medical research life. However, upon browsing online, I could hardly find any similar vacation studentship in Malaysia. Most of those studious medical students in Malaysia would always end up doing attachments in hospital, which of course is an equally good thing to do for the holidays but no one have ever thought of doing research during university holiday. In other words, there is no such trend of applying for medical research work during university vacation among medical students. And with so little or even no exposure to research work during their medical course, it’s very unlikely that a medical graduate will end up venturing into research pathway.

Apart from the vacation research opportunities, most universities in Australia incorporate a year of medical research (equivalent to honors years in Bachelor of Science degree) into their medical course making it a 6-year course rather than 5 years like most Malaysia University. Monash University medical course is however 5 years, as the medical research year (which gives a Bachelor of Medical Science degree) is optional. This one year of medical research experience again offers medical students the opportunities to explore the life as a researcher, something which is not found in medical course in university in Malaysia (or am I not aware of it).

Also, from what I am aware of, selection of candidates for specialization upon completion of internship in Australia, which is very competitive, also takes into account of any publications of research work. Medical colleges expect their future surgeons or obstetricians to not only serve and help the public but contribute to the development and growth of medical knowledge. Hence, any published research work would be a good evidence of that and will undoubtedly increase one’s chance.

Similarly for current medical doctors, they should to a certain extent incorporate research in their career pathway and only through more active involvement and effort, will medical research thrive in Malaysia. Take US as a good example, most of the medical doctors are not just doctors, they are physician cum researchers, which makes them among the leaders in medical field, making heaps of advanced medical findings and discoveries. E.g. Dr Groopman, the author of Anatomy of Hope and even, my vacation research supervisor, Professor Peter Fuller, is an endocrinologist-researcher.

Well, I might sound like beating around the bush, but the main thing here is that, in my opinion, it’s imperative for medical students to get involved in medical research and the opportunities are always out there for us to explore (in the context of overseas students). However, back to Malaysia, I think training of future researchers from as early as their medical undergraduate course is imperative in the healthy development of medical research in Malaysia or no matter how sophisticated medical research centers are built there wont be many Malaysian doctors venturing into field of medical researches not even to mention making groundbreaking discoveries.

p/s: My apology for missing out on Bachelor of Science/Biomedical Science students whom I supposed might be more interested in medical research career but my post is mostly referring to medical students.