Health & Living

What happens when your world is violated and you no longer feel safe in your own life? When your places of creativity, your physical environments, and your personal boundaries are infringed over and over again by one person? For photographer Acacia Diana, this relentless stalking continued for eight years before reaching its end in the courts. But the impact on her mental health cannot be measured...

“The insulin pen is my best friend.” For Nazril Hadani, being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four means a lifetime of “being poked and prodded” with daily insulin injections. Listen to Nazril’s story about growing up with Type 1 diabetes, and why consultant paediatric endocrinologist Prof Dr Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin thinks of young people with Type 1 diabetes as being resilient.&nbsp...

Some babies are born with a gap in their spine, a condition known as spina bifida. But how exactly will it affect them from childhood into adulthood? What kind of treatment and support will these children need to lead a good quality of life? We find out from consultant paediatrician and paediatric neurologist Dr Sofiah Ali and consultant neurosurgeon Dr Azizi Abu Bakar, both from Subang Jaya Medic...

What would our world look like if no one caught the flu anymore? In this limited series, we’re looking at how we can eliminate the public health challenges that continue to plague us today and how far we are from that goal. We speak to medical microbiologist Prof Dr Jamal I-Ching Sam from Universiti Malaya to find out if influenza could cause the next pandemic and the dangers posed by transmission...

 If you’ve watched a medical drama, you would’ve seen scenes of emergency physicians rushing about trying to save people’s lives - but is that what it’s like in real life? On this episode of Humans of Healthcare, we speak to Dr Ahmad Suhailan Mohamed, an emergency physician, about what his job entails, the stress he’s under, as well as the work of emergency physicians in the great outdoors. I...

Medical insurance policyholders have received a temporary reprieve from a huge increase to their premiums. But what happens after 2026, when higher premium adjustments will likely be inevitable to reflect the increasing cost of healthcare? Datuk Indrani Thuraisingham, Vice-President of FOMCA, joins Azrul Mohd Khalib to discuss the impact of medical inflation on consumers, what regulatory measures...

When speaking to individuals with rare disorders or their families, it’s not uncommon to hear about the diagnostic odyssey they’ve been through just to get a name for what they’re going through. But what happens after that? We want to look beyond the diagnosis, to understand what are the challenges they still face. Today, we’ll be exploring what access to medicines looks like for rare disorders an...

If you hadn’t heard of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) before Lee Chong Wei was diagnosed with it, you’re not alone. Although NPC is a very common cancer in Malaysia, people aren’t aware of it, which often leads to late diagnosis. We dive into the peculiarities of why NPC is so prevalent in our population, especially among Chinese men, and the journey that patients go through from diagnosis to treatme...

What would our world look like if mothers no longer died from pregnancy or childbirth? In this series, we’ll look at how we can eliminate the public health challenges that continue to plague us today and how far we are from that goal. In this conversation, Dr Muniswaran Ganeshan, President of the Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society of Malaysia, covers the medical, public health and socioecono...

Remember that time during the pandemic Trump and many others promoted hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment? Well, the paper that people referred to in early 2020 has recently been retracted, but can the misinformation be taken back? Consultant urologist Dr George Lee is joined by health services and systems researcher Dr Mark Cheong to delve into the murky world of misinformation and whether...

You can't be a good parent if you're emotionally stressed and dealing with trauma. Where is this trauma coming from? What is the impact of these stressors on our children? Dr Christine Gibson, a family physician and advocate of trauma-informed care, speaks to us about how parents can relearn their trauma response through brain-based and body-based strategies. Register here for her workshop in Kual...

Recently, a report by the Lancet public health commission on gambling found that gambling is a growing threat to public health globally, with about 450 million people who have experienced consequences of gambling. On this episode of Mind Matters, we speak to Dr Amer to find out how serious this problem is here in Malaysia, and what are the unique circumstances that we need to account for in addres...

What role do medical teams at sporting events play beyond just treating injuries that happen during the event? How much has sports medicine evolved to keep up with the changes in both sports and medicine? We speak to consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Harjeet Singh as well as consultant sports medicine physicians Dr Kamaljeet Singh and Dato’ Dr Gurcharan Singh to find out. Image credit: Shutterstoc...

What would our world look like if HIV was eliminated? In this series, we’ll look at how we can eliminate the public health challenges that continue to plague us today and how far we are from that goal. In this first episode, we find out from Dr Anjanna Kukreja, an infectious diseases physician, if eliminating HIV is possible in our lifetime. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Quitting smoking is probably one of the most difficult goals to achieve. Despite stories of smokers successfully quitting cold turkey, many people will find themselves making several attempts and may even get discouraged. In the first Doctor in the House show for the new year, Dr Takdir Singh Riar, Head of the Smoking Cessation Unit, Klinik Kesihatan Tanglin, joins Dr George Lee to motivate those...

Are you feeling a little unmotivated and stuck in a rut, even though everybody around you is making resolutions or setting goals for the new year? Licensed counsellor Lakshumy Kumar talks about why you may feel like something is missing in your life, and offers advice to help you get out of this slump. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a world where we’re constantly told to study harder, work longer hours, and earn more money, do we still have time to play? Is play just for children, or is it important no matter how old you are? We dive into a playful conversation with consultant clinical psychologist Paul Jambunathan about the benefits of play on mental health, and how to play more. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio....

Everyone can experience loneliness at any age - for older adults, it’s been said that they are often at higher risk of experiencing loneliness and social isolation. On this episode of Healthy Ageing, we dive into how loneliness could affect older adults’ physical and mental health, and what we can do as a community to better support the older adults we know. To do that, my guest is licensed counse...

We’ve heard about “superbugs” - bacteria that are resistant to multiple types of antibiotics that were previously effective in treating infections. It is estimated that superbugs will kill about 10 million people each year, because of multi-drug resistance. But have you heard of something even deadlier than bacteria, yet could save us? These are bacteriophages, or phages, which target and destroy...

On this month’s Ask A Doctor, we are addressing questions about weight loss, including how much to lose, how to go about it, and how do you know whether you really need to lose weight? Joining us to answer the questions are Professor Dr Rohana Abdul Ghani, Consultant Endocrinologist, Universiti Teknologi Mara & President, Malaysian Obesity Society, and Dr Arvin Raj, Consultant Sports Medicine...

The reports about medical insurance premiums rising between 40 to 70 percent next year has gotten many Malaysians incensed and worried about whether they can still afford medical insurance. What could this mean for Malaysians’ access to healthcare? How will this also impact public healthcare services? We speak to Dr Nirmala Bhoo Pathy, Professor of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Mal...

If Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr becomes the United States’ Secretary of Health and Human Services, America will have a health leader who is a science and public health skeptic. This possible scenario is a glimpse into how political priorities and decisions can have interesting - and potentially nightmarish - implications on public health policies and decisions, with consequences on healthcare fund...

When she was growing up, Insyira never thought her vision problems were a disability. But when she was 17, she was told that her impairment precluded her from being able to apply for a driver’s license. She was shattered, as it dashed her dream of being able to drive and support her visually-impaired parents and younger siblings. From having to shoulder adult responsibilities at a young age, to fa...

As we march towards the end of 2024 and you reflect on the past year, how much do you have to be grateful for? On this episode of Counsellor’s Corner, we explore the importance of gratitude and how we can learn to appreciate the small - and big - things in our lives, with licensed & registered counsellor Anujah Pulanthiran. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

We often associate memory as a function of the brain, but what if other cells in our body also have that ability to remember and learn? On this episode of Brain Waves, neurogeneticist Dr Azlina Ahmad Annuar joins us to explain how memories form in different cells and what scientists have been discovering. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.