Dear MSO members, 

It’s Great to be Back!

I hope this edition of the newsletter finds you in good health. It is almost 2.5 years to the date when we were first introduced to the dreaded but necessary Movement Control Order (MCO) and its various iterations (EMCO, CMCO and RMCO - do they still ring a bell?) in the following months. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about seismic shifts in the way we go about our lives and also in our clinical practice. Social interactions such as school playtime, sports and recreation, face-to-face meetings, conferences or simply having a meal together were not possible at one point.

Thankfully, things are much better now. It has been four months since the relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions in Malaysia, and we have welcomed the resumption of face-to-face meetings and conferences with huge sighs of relief (and perhaps even a tear in the eye).

Most recently, Malaysia was host to the 6th Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Congress, which was held in conjunction with the 12th MSO Annual Scientific Meeting and 36th Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ophthalmic Congress. We had almost a thousand attendees, with 55% of them choosing to attend the meetings on-site. We also had successful completion of the 11th Conjoint Ophthalmology Scientific Conference (COSC) on 17-18 September 2022.

ARTICLES

PERSONALITY FOCUS: DR DENNIS KONG - THE BOSS OF BORNEO

Early Life and Background

I am born and bred in Sarawak and studied in St Joseph Secondary School in Kuching and received my medical education in University of Melbourne in Australia.

Career in Ophthalmology

After that I decided to go to UK to pursue my ophthalmology training. In my first ophthalmology job in 1988 I still vividly remembered my consultant saying that he was still not convinced that ECCE was a better operation than ICCE and aphakic glasses. So, I was routinely assisting my consultants doing ICCE during my initial training.

After completing my training and getting my training in UK, I came back and did my gazettement in HKL in 1993 and then returned to join Eye Department in Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching. During that time there were very few Eye Specialists around in Sarawak and Sibu and Miri Hospitals were staffed by expatriate Eye Specialist and basic eye equipment were lacking too. Argon and YAG lasers were still not available there then.

Phacoemulsification was introduced to Malaysia around 1995 and it was a very exciting time. In those early days phaco machines were less sophisticated and dense cataracts were very challenging. Fluidics control of the old phaco machines was not so precise and anterior chamber stability was still a huge issue. Back then as well, capsulorhexis and nuclear disassembly techniques were also not so well established yet. It was a bit like the blind leading the blind in those early days of learning phaco and transitioning from ECCE.

Subsequently, I joined Normah Medical Specialist Centre and private practice in 1996. Dr Tiong Tung Hui and myself have always been talking about starting an eye centre in Kuching for many years and finally our dreams came true with the establishment of Eye Specialist Centre in Kuching in May 2015.  Ophthalmology practice has improved and advanced tremendously over the years with many more advanced and expensive equipment. Solo practice has many limitations and a group practice has the added advantage of sharing expensive advanced equipment and being more cost effective. With more ophthalmic subspecialties, group practice will also help improve the standard of ophthalmology in this region.

RECENT EVENTS: THE 12th MSO-ASM AND THE 36TH MSJOC IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 6TH APGC

The 12th Malaysian Society of Ophthalmology Annual Scientific Meeting (MSO-ASM) and the 36th Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ophthalmic Congress (MSJOC) was held in conjunction with the 6th Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Congress from 4 – 7 August 2022 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. This meeting marked the first face-to-face meeting that was organised by MSO since the Covid-19 pandemic hit our shores. It also came at a time when international travel restrictions were being relaxed not just on our shores, but also in most countries. Nevertheless, some remained wary of the threat of the coronavirus and played it safe. This is reflected in the overall attendance, which was almost 50-50 in terms of virtual and physical attendees. Of the total 928 participants for the whole meeting, 208 of them were international participants who attended physically. This was certainly an encouraging response from our overseas friends.

The scientific programme had 124 speakers and session chairs from various subspecialties, contributing to the wealth of knowledge and experience disseminated throughout the meeting.

The MSJOC was conducted over three days (5-7 August 2022), beginning with the free paper presentation which was held online on the first day. It was a very interesting session with a good mix of case series as well as clinical and basic science research presentations.

The MSJOC meeting had its opening ceremony on 6th August 2022, together with the opening ceremony of APGC. There were speeches by the Congress Chair, Dr Wong Hon Seng as well as the Presidents from the Malaysian Society of Ophthalmology (Dr Manoharan Shunmugam) and Singapore Society of Ophthalmology (Dr Lee Shu Yen). The overwhelming theme was one of gratitude for finally being able to meet up again for physical meetings, and for the support shown by both our Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts for making the effort to attend the meeting in person.

OUR CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF THE LATE DATUK' DR BHAJAN SINGH WHO PASSED AWAY ON 7 AUGUST 2022

Datuk' Dr Bhajan Singh Manocha
1932-2002 (89 years)