KUANTAN, June 9 — The Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) here will become a teaching hospital for the sports medicine Specialist Training Programme (PLK) of the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) master medical students, said Pahang Health director Datuk Dr Nor Azimi Yunus

It is expected to be realised next year, after receiving recognition from Universiti Malaya (UM) which is the only higher education institution offering a Master’s programme in the field so far.

“Currently, we are preparing the relevant working papers to be sent to UM and it is expected to be followed up with a visit by the relevant parties to HTAA at the end of this year before it is known whether we have obtained the recognition,” she said.

“Only after that, can we start accepting students or trainees to undergo training since we already have some specialists (in the field) and suitable facilities.”

Dr Nor Azimi said this after officiating the 1st National Clinical Exercise Testing Symposium (NACETS) 2023 — An Introduction To Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) at HTAA today.

So far, four hospitals have become teaching hospitals for the programme, namely Kuala Lumpur Hospital in the federal capital, Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Negeri Sembilan and in Selangor, the Selayang Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR).

Accordingly, HTAA will be the first hospital on the East Coast to become a teaching hospital for sports medicine, pending UM recognition.

Dr Nor Azimi said that HTAA’s readiness to become a teaching hospital was also strengthened by the establishment of a Sports Medicine Service Unit there, officially in 2021 and now having two experts in the field.

The presence of patients for the unit also shows that 90 per cent of the admissions are civilians, while the rest are athletes or those active in sports, at the same time showing that the field of sports medicine is fast gaining recognition with the community.

In addition to treatment and rehabilitation, the field also includes rehabilitation programmes before and after sports surgery, physical fitness testing programmes and prescription of exercise for non-communicable diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. — Bernama