KOTA BHARU, August 2015 – The Human Transformation Centre (PTI), Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) recently organised a seminar on University Teaching Hospital (HPU) for two days at the Grand Riverview Hotel Kota Bharu.

The seminar was attended by 80 participants from the public universities in Malaysia aimed at strengthening the faculty of Medicine in the public universities, establishing the post-graduate programmes to produce more quality medical specialists, understanding the direction, roles and responsibilities of the university teaching hospitals and aligning the roles of the newly established university teaching hospitals with the existing ones.

According to the Deputy Registrar of the Registry, Health Campus, Hj. Anislan Yusoff, this seminar allows the sharing of knowledge and experiences by medical professionals, administrators and specialists from public and private universities who have experiences working and managing teaching hospitals.

Among them were the Director of IPTA Governance Division, Ministry of Higher Education, Norina Jamaludin who delivered the keynote speech “The Direction of the University Teaching Hospital in the context of Higher Education in Malaysia", the Dean/Director of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (PPUKM) Prof. Dato' Dr. Raymond Azman Ali, who delivered a lecture on "The Role of the Teaching Hospitals in Public Universities: Issues and Challenges" and a lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences USM Prof. Dr. Zabidi Azhar Mohd Hussin who presented a paper on "Generating Income in University Teaching Hospitals - Private Wing vs. Private Hospital".

The Dean of USM School of Civil Engineering Prof. Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah also shared his views and findings on the ‘Concept and Implementation of the University Teaching Hospital: Where is the meeting point between services, academic, research and innovation from a general perspective’.

According to Norina, University Teaching Hospitals play an important role in implementing teaching and learning, conducting medical research and innovation, training future health care professionals as well as providing health care services to patients.

“Because of their numerous functions, University Teaching Hospitals are usually confronted with varied operational and financial challenges,” she added.

Translation: Sharifah Zafirah Syed Nassir/Editing: Tan Ewe Hoe/Text: Wan Azahar Wan Ahmad/Photo: Mohd Ridzuwan Ramly