Page 210 - ANUAL REPORT MOH 2017

Figure 13
Number of staff trained in Obstetric Life Saving Skills Programme, 2017

Source: O&G and Paediatric Services Unit, Medical Development Division

Paediatric Services
Paediatric specialty services are available in almost all Ministry Of Health hospitals. Emphasis on
improving service delivery was given to certain areas such as thalassaemia, stem cell, genetics and
intensive care services in paediatrics in 2017.

1. Activities in 2017 were :
11 research assistants from 9 hospitals were appointed to assist in data entry for MyThalassaemia
Registry programme. Based on unpublished data from MyThalassaemia Registry in the year 2017,
there were 7,636 thalassaemia patients in Malaysia with 4,463 transfusion-dependant thalassaemia
patients requiring treatment from iron chelating agents. Since Malaysia is in the ‘thalassaemia
belt’ which stretches from Mediterranean to South East Asia, there are approximately 142 new
thalassaemia patients being diagnosed in year 2017. Improvement in compliance was noted among
patients using the iron chelating agents and consequently the life expectancy of the thalassaemia
patients in Malaysia has also improved. As a result of this improvement, 50.7 per cent of these
patients are in the adolescent group aged between 10 to 19 years old.
2. A workshop on the National Thalassaemia Registry was carried out on 23 to 26 November 2017 at
The Pullman Hotel, Putrajaya. This workshop was a collaboration between Medical Development
Division with Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) and Malaysian Society of Paediatric Haematology
and Oncology (MASPHO) . With the theme of “Health Economics of Thalassaemia”, the aim of this
workshop is to discuss on the action plan of the thalassaemia program and giving focus on the
burden of disease, health outcome measures and health economics of thalassaemia.
3. In the year 2017, The National Stem Cell Research and Ethics Committee (NSCERT) approved
with recommendations to the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC), research proposals
on clinical trials using stem cell for various studies. These are :-

MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA ANNUAL REPORT 2017 209