Thumbs up after the graduation ceremony
PUTRAJAYA, May 22: Forty-nine doctors recently made a strong impact in the Malaysian mental health landscape by graduating from an intensive certificate programme in mental health organised by the Malaysian Society for Academic Psychiatry (MSAP).
The certificate of completion for the General Practitioners (GPs) was jointly awarded by the society, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Casemix Solutions, thus making the programme the first such course to scale up mental health service in primary care in Malaysia.
At the certificate presentation ceremony held at the Academies of Medicine here on May 8, MSAP President Professor Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj, who is also the President of the Malaysian Mental Health Association, said out of 50 who enrolled in the rigorous six-month programme, 49 succeeded — a testament not only to the commitment of the doctors, but also to the urgency and relevance of the course in the current Malaysian healthcare landscape.
The course had enabled them to enhance their knowledge and skills as mental health is no longer a peripheral issue, he said.
“It is central not only to the individual’s well-being and family stability but also to our nation’s productivity and progress.
“For far too long, mental health services have been the neglected child of our healthcare system. Services remain fragmented, access is uneven, and stigma still prevents many from seeking help,” he said at the graduation ceremony.
In urging General Practitioners to be agents of change, Dr Andrew said:“You can bridge the enormous gap between the burden of mental illness and access to timely, competent care. With this training, you are now equipped with knowledge and confidence. Not just with information, but with the ability to intervene early, reduce suffering, and even save lives.
He stressed that the course, being the first of its kind in Malaysia, was not intended to build a parallel system but only to strengthen what had already existed.
“We are empowering the very backbone of our healthcare system – our general practitioners to play an essential role in the prevention, early detection, and management of mental illness,” said Dr Andrew.
Be the agents of change, says Professor Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj
The President of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, Associate Professor Dr Hazian Hamzah, who was the guest of honour, said in her keynote address that her academy fully supported the efforts made by the Malaysian Society for Academic Psychiatry to scale up mental health services at the primary care level through the certificate programme.
In highlighting the reality that the number of psychiatrists in the country was dismally low at 460 psychiatrists, she said that it would take a long time for Malaysia to meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation of one psychiatrist per 10,000 population.
“Therefore, the only way to meet the needs of the population is to empower primary care doctors to detect and treat common psychiatric problems while referring complex cases to psychiatrists, she added.
Dr Hazian said this would also reduce the bottleneck at specialist psychiatric services while facilitating a conducive therapeutic alliance since primary care doctors and general practitioners were usually more familiar with their regular patients.
Dr. Nur Syakira Abu Samah, a General Practitioner with SP Care Group in the Klang Valley, expressed satisfaction with the Mental Health Certificate Course.
Saying that she enrolled for the course because she felt the course would bring advancement to her knowledge in managing basic mental health conditions, she added:“I feel I am now empowered to not only diagnose mental health conditions but also treat mild conditions that do not need immediate referral to a psychiatrist. Before signing up for the course, I did not have the confidence to do so.”
Dr Nur Syakira said the course, being fully online and ‘on demand’, made it suitable for General Practitioners like herself.
Dr Harry Dinesh Mahalingam, Chief Executive Officer of SP Care Group and also a participant himself, said his doctors were already competent in managing diabetes, hypertension, asthma and many other conditions.
“But in completing this course, they are now confident in treating mental health conditions as well, with psychiatric referral only in complex cases, he said, adding that all its doctors had signed up for the course.
Dr Harry disclosed that cases related to mental health conditions have increased rapidly in recent years and frontliners of the medical healthcare system should be competent to identify individuals at an early stage or when they see a patient in need of help.
“These general practitioners will also be able to remove the stigma people have from seeing a psychiatrist for their condition,” he said.
The next course intake is in July 2025. Further details are available from the society’s website at msap.org.my or email admin@mysacp.org. The Certificate Course in Mental Health has an award of 20 CPD points and is HRDF claimable.