Health & Living

When you have cancer, treatment is just one chapter of the story. The rest of the story is about learning to live as a survivor - monitoring the risk of recurrence, going for follow-up care, and redefining what life means. We speak to a consultant clinical oncologist and a breast cancer patient on how to help cancer survivors live with hope, rather than in fear.  Image credit: Shutterstock Se...

This month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) struck out a universal recommendation to start hepatitis B immunisation at birth for children in the US - announcing instead that the jab should only be given to infants born to women who test positive for the virus. We look at why this move could lead to a rise in chronic hepatitis infections and liver disease in the long term, a...

The alarm bells on obesity keep ringing, but our understanding of how to manage it is changing. We speak to consultant cardiologist Dr David Quek about how obesity is now being treated as a chronic disease, and how it has direct impact on reducing cardiovascular disease.  This is a disease awareness message brought to you by Novo Nordisk Pharma Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would be removing the strictest "black box" warnings from menopause hormone therapy. We explore the reasons for this decision, and whether menopause hormone therapy is safe for women going through perimenopause and menopause. We also look at the impact of menopause on women at work and whether the FDA’s ruling on MHT contribut...

As conflict continues to rage around the world, how are medical humanitarian organisations coping and what is it like for these people risking their lives to provide medical care to those who need it most? We speak to anaesthesiologist Dr Annie Sheng-Yi Lin about her latest mission with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Sudan and what’s happening there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Whether you’re an occasional user or constant scroller, social media has become an irrevocable part of most of our lives. While it has helped us to stay connected to family and friends, social media has also been toxic, for some more than others. How can you be online more mindfully, and is a social media detox possible without feeling like a frog under a coconut shell? Image credit: Shuttterstock...

A woman with breast cancer needs more than just clinical therapy in order to manage her cancer. We look at Cancer Research Malaysia’s patient navigation programme, which helps women overcome barriers in their treatment journey, to be able to complete treatment and improve their chances of recovery. We also hear how the NORA (Navigation, Outreach & Resource Access) programme is being expanded a...

For years, lung cancer has ranked among the top cancers in Malaysia, and been a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. In 2025, Malaysia saw several developments in lung cancer and lung health, which will be unpacked on the Public Health show with Prof Anand Sachithanandan, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Co-Founder of Lung Cancer Network Malaysia, and Dr Muralli Munisamy, Medical Director...

Struggling to breathe properly, having to breathe through your mouth or dealing with constant throat irritation and cough - many of us are familiar with these symptoms. For the most part, we just learn to live with it, brushing it off as an inconvenience. But what’s causing this nasal obstruction? Is it really just a harmless problem, or are there underlying causes that need medical attention? We...

What do you call a doctor who specialises in taking care of most common ailments, providing comprehensive care for patients of all ages? That’s a family medicine specialist, who works at the primary care level as the first point of contact for people in the community. We speak to Professor Dr Adina Abdullah, a Family Medicine Specialist with Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, about the role of thes...

How many of us spend the nights staring at a phone or computer screen, putting off sleep? While most of us know it’s probably not great for our health, how is it also affecting what’s happening in our brain during this time when we’re supposed to let it rest and refresh? We dive into what the research tells us, with neurogeneticist Dr Azlina Ahmad Annuar. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio....

With access to care and effective treatment, HIV is no longer the death sentence it was decades ago. But how is Malaysia doing in getting HIV treatment to those who need it most? What are the gaps that remain and is stigma towards high-risk populations coming back to haunt us? Consultant urologist Dr George Lee is joined by consultant ID physician Assoc Prof Dr Raja Iskandar president of the Malay...

Are you happy with life, or just feeling happy in the moment? How do we move from one state to the other? We talk about the pursuit of happiness with Rozy Khalid, Licensed Counsellor. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“There is no specific treatment for dengue.” That’s often how dengue is described, as the viral infection can only be managed through supportive care like fluids, rest or platelet transfusions, if necessary. However, an effective antiviral treatment for dengue might mean the difference between life and death for many people who are infected every year. We speak to Vanessa Daniel, Regional Director...

Compassion is one of the most important elements in healthcare but in a world where healthcare workers are overworked, how does compassion come through in the care that patients receive? We speak to Dr Debbie Ling, a compassion and common humanity researcher as well as a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at Monash University to dive into what compassion truly means and whether compassion c...

What happens after a patient has been exposed to unsafe care, and has suffered an injury or complication? In the final episode of the series on patient safety, we explore what are patients’ rights after a medical error, and what patients and their caregivers can do. Click here to listen to the other episodes of this mini-series. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Rheumatoid arthritis is often diagnosed late, forcing patients to live with daily pain and disruptions to their lives as the disease progresses. We speak to consultant rheumatologist Associate Professor Dr Fariz Yahya, who is the President of the Arthritis Foundation Malaysia, to find out how to improve diagnosis and care for patients with RA. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener...

In recent months, incidents involving schoolchildren and violence have raised concerns about whether kids are equipped with the skills to navigate conflict, stress, friendships and consent. Can we leave it up to children to eventually learn this on their own, or should there be a concerted effort to teach social and emotional skills from a young age? We discuss with Dr Rajini Sarvananthan, Consult...

Nobody looking at Goh Liu Ying at the height of her mixed badminton doubles career would have guessed at her mental health struggles. On this episode of ‘ Because Feelings Matter ’, Liu Ying talks about the psychological toll of dealing with her injury, and why mental health support is crucial for athletes.  Every mental health struggle has a story behind it. ‘ Because Feelings Matter ’ is a...

From holding a racquet to lifting weights, having a good range of motion in your hands and wrists is vital to be able to do exercise and to keep playing the sports you love. But are hand and wrist injuries often overlooked? We’ll be diving into the common hand and wrist injuries with Dr Harjeet Singh, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, and whether treatment for these injuries differ considering the c...

Dengue is endemic in Malaysia, and with over 100,000 cases annually, it’s not a disease that’s unfamiliar to most of us. But despite decades of countless warnings to take dengue seriously, do we actually?  On this episode of Beyond The Diagnosis, we hear from two women, Bahwanee Muthusamy and Hawiah Azit, on how their own experiences after being hospitalised with dengue has changed their pers...

Medicines save lives, but they’re also fuelling a silent but grave threat: antimicrobial resistance. After years of warning and education, are we still struggling to keep this global health threat in check? How can we also do our parts as patients and ensure that medicines are safely disposed of? Consultant urologist Dr George Lee is joined by consultant infectious diseases physician Dato’ Dr Sure...

Medical devices save lives. Picture the X-ray machine that detects your disease, the ventilator that supports your breathing, or the pacemaker that keeps your heart beating. However, when something goes wrong with these devices, the consequences can be deadly. How do we ensure that the medical devices used in healthcare go through a rigorous regulatory process to be safe for use? In the third epis...

Our first few years of life don’t just shape our memories — they also shape our microbes, trillions of which reside in our gut. The gut microbiome we build as children can influence our immunity, metabolism, and risk of disease well into adulthood. Professor Ng Siew Chien, Associate Dean (Research)from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, tells us more about the development of the gut microbiome f...

On our open clinic show, we tackle a problem that most women feel embarrassed or reluctant to discuss - heavy periods. Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Premitha Damodaran answers questions about excessively heavy, painful and abnormal bleeding, and other menstrual problems. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.