Health Ministry wants more neuro experts

Star: PENANG: Senior general practitioners should turn “mentors” to encourage more young doctors to become neurologists and neurosurgeons.
Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the mentor approach would help address the shortage of neurologists and neurosurgeons.
“To date, we only have 47 neurologists and 41 neurosurgeons in the country and we need 269 neurologists and 123 neurosurgeons to treat the growing number of stroke patients,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) on the Management of Stroke by the Malaysian Society of Neurosciences at the four-day Asean Neurological Association Symposium here.
He said medical societies and associations could also play a big role in making doctors “excited” in neurosciences.
“As long as there are practitioners who are interested in the field, the ministry is ready to send them for training,” he added.
Dr Ismail said an initial study by the ministry showed that younger practitioners complied more with the CPGs than senior practitioners.
“There are some 30 CPGs concerning various fields of medicine and the ministry plans to carry out an audit to find out how many doctors are actually using them and whether they are being used,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Ismail said stroke was the fourth leading cause of death in Malaysia.
He said the ministry would continue with its efforts to train more neurologists, neurosurgeons, rehabilitative medicine specialists and supporting health personnel.
The CPGs in the Management of Stroke, he added, was developed to provide a clearer approach to clinicians on current concepts in managing stroke.