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Malaysia to make synthetic bone grafting

From The Star Online

MALAYSIA will produce and commercialise its own synthetic bone grafting materials for medical applications by 2009, an effort that will help reduce imports of such item by 60%.

Science, Technology and Environment Deputy Minister Datuk Zainal Dahalan said his ministry had allocated RM12mil for the project under the Intensification of Research in Priority Areas.

The synthetic bone grafting materials will be jointly produced by the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (Mint), Sirim Bhd, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

Datuk Zainal Dahalan looking through a microscope to view the development of bone graft substitutes. With him are Datuk Dr Mohd Ariffin Aton (left) and Sirim head of composite and bio material Dr Ishak Yahaya.
“Currently, synthetic bone grafting materials required for surgeries are fully imported and with the joint effort, we would be able to produce such materials on our own and reduce imports by 60%,” he said.

Zainal said between RM20mil and RM30mil worth of synthetic bone grafting materials were imported annually from Switzerland, Germany and the United States.

He said the joint research and development effort would be completed in three years and after a few years of clinical tests, the Malaysian-made synthetic bone grafting materials would be available for commercial production in 2009.

Zainal said this after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on behalf of Science, Technology and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding in Kulim, Kedah yesterday.

The MoA was signed by Sirim president and chief executive Datuk Dr Mohd Ariffin Aton, Mint director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Sobri Hashim, USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dzulkifly Abdul Razak, UKM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Salleh Mohd Yasin and IIUM acting deputy Rector of Academic Affairs Associate Prof Dr Mohd Azmi Omar.

Bone grafting is done by using human or animal bones, or processed corals. It can also done using synthetic bone grafting materials.

Bone grafting is a common procedure in surgical operations such as in orthopaedics, dental, maxillofacial, ENT and neurosurgery.

According to Sirim, a total of 30,000 orthopaedic procedures are conducted annually in the country, of which one third is estimated to involve bone-grafting procedures.

Prof Dzulkifly said the locally produced synthetic bone grafting materials could be exported, especially to Asian countries such as Indonesia.

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Health Ministry to present Cabinet papers on tobacco control treaty

From The EdgeDaily

The Health Ministry will soon submit a memorandum to Cabinet for consideration toward the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global treaty that sets tighter controls on the tobacco industry.

“The papers are now in final draft,” said Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng, adding that the ministry would present the documents to Cabinet “very shortly”.

An international initiative by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the FCTC was unanimously adopted by WHO member states, including Malaysia, at the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003.

Speaking to reporters after delivering his keynote address at the 2003 Malaysian Health Conference on June 23, Chua pointed out that the government must endorse the treaty before it becomes law.

The FCTC is the first international treaty ever to be negotiated by WHO, the United Nations’ principal health agency.

Four years in the making, the treaty sets international standards for tobacco controls with provisions on advertising and sponsorship, tax and price increases, labelling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke.

Signatories are expected to incorporate treaty elements into their national laws. They are free to legislate the FCTC at higher thresholds, but are obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the treaty’s purpose.

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Time to sell the BAT/JTI shares? :0

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Health officials ponder what’s next after SARS

KUALA LUMPUR — Health officials from around the world gathered for a two-day meeting on SARS on Tuesday, certain that the worst of the disease was over but already girding for the next viral epidemic.

New infections and deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome have almost dwindled to zero, but officials said there would be no let-up in fighting the disease which has killed almost 800 people worldwide and infected about 8,500 since it emerged late last year.
“We must continue to fight against this disease nationally, regionally, and globally, until the end,” said Shigeru Omi, director for the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific Region. “The SARS epidemic is now coming under control but the fight is by no means over. SARS is not defeated, other new diseases will threaten us in the future; we must be better prepared next time.”

Around 1,000 delegates were gathering in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur for the meeting. WHO plans to examine public health system responses to SARS, where the virus came from, and whether it can be wiped out. Omi said WHO had established that SARS originated in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong but added that questions remained over whether animals were responsible for spreading the virus.

“There are many studies that indicate to that effect. Final confirmation still has to be made,” he told a news conference. One of the main issues at Tuesday’s meeting, due to feature a speech by Chinese Vice Minister for Health Gao Qiang, will be China’s sluggish response to SARS and the initial reluctance of its health officials and other government officers to publicise the outbreak. Their actions have been widely blamed for having delayed global action on the new disease and helping its spread.

Conference delegate Finn Zedler, whose Hamburg-based company Artus developed a test kit to aid early detection of SARS, said the priority should be to learn lessons for the next viral outbreak. He said the previously unknown SARS had been particularly frightening because of the speed of its spread via travellers.

“This is also a sign that there might be more diseases like this coming up for which we will need very early measures in place and open public health systems,” Zedler said. “There will be a next time; that’s indisputable. The question is when.”

China has been worst hit by the SARS outbreak. Deaths have also been reported in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and South Africa.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

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Heart disease biggest killer in Malaysia
From IRNA:
Kuala Lumpur, June 19, IRNA — Heart disease was the leading cause
of certified medical deaths in Malaysia in 2001 and 2002, accounting
for 15.76 percent and 15.99 percent of deaths reported at government
hospitals in the two previous years, Health Minister Chua Jui Meng
told the parliament here on Thursday.
In 2001, there were 23,561 deaths reported in government hospitals
and 25,377 last year.
Other leading causes of death in both years were septicemia,
malignant neoplasm, cerebrovascular diseases and accidents, Chua
said.
Chua was asked about the types of diseases which were the leading
causes of death in the country and how many deaths had been caused by
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and dengue.
Chua said only two deaths this year were caused by SARS and 11
confirmed deaths caused by dengue fever in the first three months of
this year.
Last year, dengue killed 57 people, 50 in 2001 and 45 in 2000.

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Medical info system for UPM
Source: The Star Online
PETALING JAYA: Xybase MSC (M) Sdn Bhd said it has developed a medical information system for Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) that has already gone live.

The UPM e-Klinik system is a complete information system that takes care of the medical information needs of the students, staff as well the general public within the compounds of the campus, the company said in a statement.

“It took us about eight months to develop the e-Klinik system, including user acceptance and functional tests backed by a team of only 15 professionals,” said Abdul Muhaimy Shafee, the Xybase project manager currently based at UPM.

e-Klinik was built as a web-based application — accessible via Internet Explorer — which operates on a 24/7 basis, primarily catering for medical and dental consultations.

It has been integrated with other systems within UPM — the IHRAMS human resource and payroll system, the SMP student information system and the EIS statistical reporting system.

Among the benefits of the e-Klinik system is that it enables the clinic consultation and medication processes to be as paperless as possible, from patient information, medication disbursement, setting appointments to viewing stock level of drugs and online reporting.

Patients no longer have to carry their medical papers from one division of the clinic to another. All the information is disseminated via the portal.

For example, instead of writing x-ray instructions on a form and getting the patient to pass the form to the x-ray department, the radiographer can access the instruction via e-Klinik. All records are kept in its database. This ensures records are updated instantly and are kept securely, Xybase MSC claimed.

e-Klinik runs on a Sun Fire 280R Server, operates on the Sun Solaris 8 operating system alongside the Oracle 9i relational database management system and Orion Application server.

The system was developed using Oracle 9i J Developer.

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The Summer Is Over

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Daun ketom has similar effect to morphine, study shows
From the NST June 16:
DEWAN RAKYAT, June 16: The herb daun ketom has effects similar to morphine but to a lesser extent, an Institute of Medical Research study has shown.
The study on the plant, which is widely believed to be addictive, has been carried out since 1990, said Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng in a written reply to Zawawi Ahmad (Pas-Padang Terap).
Zawawi had asked if daun ketom was addictive and a health hazard.
Chua said one of the main chemical compounds isolated from the plant, called “mitragynine”, had shown effects similar to that of morphine.
It could cause hallucinations similar to those induced by morphine and can cause stimulation, unlike morphine.
The Health Ministry also carried out tests on the effects on the daun ketom on 54 users in 1994 and it was found that the majority used it to get off heroin or morphine addictions, he said.
Others used it as an energising tonic, de-worming and cough medication.
The study found that users showed only a low level of addiction and the use of daun ketom was not always detrimental, he added.
However, Chua said much more research had to be conducted into the effects of long-term use of the plant.

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So what does this plant look like? I googled for an image and came up with this:

which takes one to this article from FRIM. So does it mean the Government may ban backyard cultivation of this plant? I predict this will be the next big thing after Tongkat Ali with food and drinks claiming to be spiced with an extract of “Daun Ketum”.
As the good Minister alluded, much more research needs to be done. But I suspect greed will lead to marketing before good scientific studies what more any clinical studies.

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WHO meet to scrutinise SARS

The Star Online > News > Monday, June 16, 2003

BY SUSAN TAM

PETALING JAYA: The mysterious coronavirus that claimed over 750 lives will come under microscopic scrutiny when health experts meet tomorrow at the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) first Global Conference on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

According to WHO’s Collaborating Centre director Datuk Dr Lam Sai Kit, the issues that would top the agenda included measures to reduce transmission in healthcare and community settings, the clinical management of SARS and studying the possible role of animals in the deadly flu-like disease.

“Better patient management in terms of viral therapy, disease prevention in terms of case detection, isolation and infection control, will be identified hopefully as a result of this meeting,” said Dr Lam who is also Universiti Malaya’s professor of medical microbiology.

The two-day conference here is a follow-up to the Asean health ministers’ special meeting on SARS which ended in Cambodia on June 11.

It is also expected to review the scientific findings of the killer disease, to examine the public health interventions to contain the disease and how to contain the virus without risking too many lives.

Health Ministry deputy director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican said Malaysia would be able to share its experience in handling the disease at the WHO conference.

“This meeting is eagerly awaited by all as many are interested to know the latest development on the disease.

“The general measures to be adopted at the meeting are important to plan strategies for future outbreaks including bio-terrorist attacks,” he added.

WHO’s acting representative to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Dr R.W.K. Gee said the conference would bring together all those involved in research, care and treatment areas to exchange their understanding and knowledge of the disease.

About 1,300 scientists, medial experts and public health officials are expected to attend the gathering.

WHO communications officer Dick Thompson said the meeting was a “perfect opportunity” to examine how the world had responded to the outbreaks and proposed new ways of responding to similar outbreaks in the future.

On the first day, the plenary session will touch on the global impact caused by SARS, the global alert and response.

Various countries such as Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Canada and the United States will give country reports.

Among the aspects to be discussed include the aetiology of SARS, laboratory diagnosis and vaccine development.

On the second day, participants will discuss matters like preventing international spread, epidemiology, laboratory issues, clinical diagnosis, response co-ordination and surveillance.

By tackling the mysterious virus from all angles, experts are optimistic that the meeting will be fruitful in knowing the disease better and to come out with more effective measures to contain the global spread of SARS.

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Ban on Prairie dogs
Know any owners of exotic pets? There’s yet another zoonosis, this time in the US of A. And it’s a Monkeypox Outbreak in the midwest, the likely source being Prairie dogs.
At least the Vet Dept has the good sense to ban importation of prairie dogs into Malaysia.
I wonder why we have been afflicted with so many zoonoses of late. There was the Nipah outbreak. Then the SARS outbreak. Now this. But the little critters sure are cute aren’t they…

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Thailand promotes health tourism with Malaysia
Source: Malaysiakni
Thailand’s burgeoning health tourism industry could earn an impressive 100 billion baht (US$2.4 billion) over the next three years as the country expands facilities and teams up with neighbour Malaysia, health officials said.

Thai Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the kingdom could double its earnings in the lucrative sector and serve as Asia’s health hub if it put in place measures aimed at boosting Thailand’s recognition as one of the world’s premier destinations for medical and health tourism.

“Health tourism is to draw foreign tourists and is expected to gain 100 billion baht over the next three years,” Sudarat said in a ministry statement seen Sunday.

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Well, well. I wonder how this “teaming up” will manifest and in what way the two countries will “cooperate”. Sure, the short term gain will be for $$$$$. However I am of the opinion, the long term gain will be if the two countries and indeed countries in SEA can cooperate more in the area of scientific research and development. Health tourism will be only driven by businessmen with financial goals. We need governments and leaders with vision to see beyond this and look to the future.