Liow: All Major Hospitals Will Have Two Breast, Endocrine Surgeons By 2015

Bernama PUTRAJAYA, May 25 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry will station two breast and endocrine surgeons at all major hospitals nationwide by 2015, said its minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

At present, he said there were only 25 such surgeons serving in government hospitals, in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.

"The number of Malaysians with breast cancer is on the rise. According to the latest National Cancer Registry report, one in every fourteen Malaysian women is a breast cancer patient.

"We hope that at least two such specialists will be stationed at all major hospital nationwide by the next three years. This will help relieve a lot of pressure on our surgeons.

"If there is only one, it means there is no break for the specialists and they have to be on call 24 hours everyday. If we have two, than we can handle the situation better," he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Malaysian government and the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (AMM) for breast and endocrine surgery (BES) courses to be conducted in the country.

Secretary-General of Health Ministry, Datuk Kamarul Zaman Md Isa represented the government while AMM represented by its Deputy Master.

Under the MOU, Liow said, two surgeons Breast Surgery International and International Association of Endocrine Surgeons would teach and train surgeons in BES in Malaysia.