When care is as vital as cure

Star: PENANG: Datuk Dr T.P. Devaraj, the first Malaysian to be listed in the World Medical Association’s 100 Caring Physicians, has always believed that compassion combined with modern medicine would open the door for a patient’s recovery.
“Sometimes all you have to do as a doctor or a nurse is just to sit and listen to your patients and see how best you could help them cope with their illness’,’ he said in an interview at his Jesselton Avenue house yesterday.
Describing the recognition as “part and parcel of good medical practice”, Dr Devaraj, 81, said cure should not be the primary objective as care shown to a patient was equally important.
In all humility, he said that he had only done what he had to do but it would be a meaningful journey if his work inspired others to embark on a good cause.
Dr Devaraj was instrumental in the establishment of the Penang Family Planning Association, the Hospice at Home Programme and the Penang Hospice Home.
He has been involved in community work since he graduated from the University of Singapore in 1952.
After completing his housemanship in Singapore, he returned to Malaya in 1954 and served at the Penang Hospital until his retirement in 1979.
He was among the founder members of the Malaysian Medical Association (MAA), was its president in 1983 and had served many years in MAA’s ethical committee.
Dr Devaraj is passionate about the Hospice programme, which he considers a new development in the country.
“At the time when we wanted to introduce the Hospice programme in 1992, there was a serious gap in our health system where there was a lack of patient support in terms of providing care for a patient after diagnosis”.
The programme has since been extended to 18 other towns such as Seremban, Tawau, Kuching and Sandakan, among others.
Another project close at heart for Dr Devaraj is the Penang Hospice Home in Air Itam, which began operations in February 2001 as an eight-bed hospital.
“We have never turned away anyone who has come to the hospice for help,” Dr Devaraj said.
He expressed hope that there would be more community involvement in providing care for patients.