Hospital Pakar Kanak-Kanak UKM (HPKK-UKM): A New Leader, A New Beginning And A Strong Vision

Written by: Prof. Datuk Dr. A Rahman A Jamal

Resource: Facebook Rahman Jamal

The new chairman of the Board of Directors of UKM, Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr. Mohamad Abd Razak, visited the HPKK yesterday accompanied by the Pro Vice Chancellor of the UKM Kuala Lumpur Campus (Professor Dato’ Dr. Hanafiah Harunarrashid), the Director of Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (Professor Dato’ Dr. Razman Jarmin) and the newly appointed director of the HPKK (Professor Dato’ Dr. Ismail Sagap).

As the founding project director of HPKK (from 2010 to 2019), it was indeed an honour for me to be invited by the top management of HPKK to join the event. As I have always said before, the HPKK is not about the relocation of the paediatric services currently at HCTM to a bigger and prettier place. The vision of the HPKK is not just about providing the best healthcare to the sick children, but also to be the best training centre and a centre of excellence for research in paediatric diseases.

The top children’s hospitals in the world are very competitive in research and most of them have a research institute twinned to the hospital. The Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital has the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has the Saban Research Institute, The Great Ormond Street Hospital in London has the Institute of Child Health, and the Oakland Children’s Hospital in San Francisco has the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI).

Giving the best services and healthcare to the sick kids is a given (a must), but making HPKK the top centre for training and research will give HPKK the edge and propel it on its trajectory to be the best children’s hospital in the region. One key ingredient is to bring in the best clinicians and researchers from the nation and the region.

I personally believe the new leadership at HPKK can make this happen, with the strong support from the sister hospital, HCTM, and the office of the Pro Vice Chancellor of the KL Campus. For the research component, the four faculties (Medicine, Health Sciences, Dentistry and Pharmacy) and the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) can work together with HPKK to plan and strategise key flagship research programs in childhood diseases. HPKK must also establish networking with the local institutions like the Hospital Tunku Azizah of the Ministry of Health (formerly known as the Women and Children’s Hospital), Institut Jantung Negara, the other university hospitals, the private hospitals and the top children’s hospitals in the region.

The new chairman of LPU sent a strong message yesterday, calling for unity and establishing a culture of excellence, and for the staff to work hard and support the new director. Dato’ Dr. Mohammad Razak is an orthopaedic surgeon and was once the director of HCTM. He and the other directors of HCTM were instrumental in making HCTM what it is now, a top referral hospital and the choice for fellowship training for clinicians from Malaysian and other countries.

I am an optimist and I believe the new director can deliver but he will need the buy-in and support from all the stakeholders. I believe the timing is right and with the new top management at the main campus in Bangi and at KL campus. The future is bright and it starts right now.