MyMedR

Fulltext A study of marketing and its effect on infant feeding practices

Suleiman A

Med J Malaysia, 2001 Sep;56(3):319-23.

PMID: 11732077

A baby milk market was created in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was conceived through the mutual attraction of the manufacturers and doctors. This has partly attributed to the change from breast to artificial feeding. This study was conducted to determine whether marketing had any effect on infant feeding practices. Fifty Malay mothers whose last child was aged less than five years were asked, by questionnaire and by interview, to identify whether several marketing methods influenced their decision on the selection of infant feeding practice. It was found that these mothers felt milk advertisements on television were attractive (72%), were influenced by others to buy a particular brand of formula (38.4%), were influenced by free milk samples to buy a particular brand of milk formula (65.2%) and were not influenced by their doctors on the chosen method of feeding (68%). More studies should be conducted on a bigger sample in other settings and targeting other methods of marketing to substantiate the above results. Further, similar studies among Chinese and Indian mothers are also required.

Health sector reform: ethical issues and challenges

Suleiman AB

Med J Malaysia, 2000 Aug;55 Suppl B:5-8.

PMID: 11125522

Missions of a medical school: an Asian perspective

Suleiman AB

Acad Med, 1999 Aug;74(8 Suppl):S45-52.

PMID: 10495743

This case study of medical schools in Malaysia addresses their role in meeting the demands of a young nation. Throughout the growth and development of these medical schools, there have been efforts to coordinate and cooperate with providers of health care. The treatment of illness must mesh with the changing paradigm of health and wellness as an achievable and indeed desirable goal, not only for the individual but also for society. The scientific basis of medicine is being emphasized with the advent of evidence-based medicine and outcome measures. Innovations have been made to bring the schools in closer contact with the service providers. Malaysia has prepared farsighted plans to become a developed nation by the year 2020. Accordingly, its health services will use advances in information technology and will introduce telemedicine in various strategic applications to extend the reach of the health care team. It is incumbent on the medical schools to move in concert with the Ministry of Health to realize goals of the nation and the society.

The untapped potential of Telehealth

Suleiman AB

Int J Med Inform, 2001 May;61(2-3):103-12.

PMID: 11311664

The people of Malaysia generally enjoy a high standard of health. This is largely attributed to the comprehensive range of health services provided by the Government and the private sector at affordable costs. However, there are changing trends that now seriously challenge this status quo. The changing population structure, lifestyle, disease patterns and globalization are causing healthcare costs to rise. New and innovative ways will have to be devised to further improve the health status and at the same time contain costs. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) presents unprecedented opportunities to help the health sector in Malaysia reinvent itself and transform the way health and healthcare is managed and delivered in the future. Malaysia's Telehealth initiative under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project is designed to realize Malaysia's health vision and goals and meet future health challenges. Multimedia and Internet technology will be fully harnessed to deploy services that will shift the emphasis from episodic management of illness to proactive promotion of lifelong wellness and disease prevention. Health information content and interactive applications will engage the people to work as partners of health with healthcare professionals in maintaining their own health or managing their illnesses.

Medical aspects of haematuria

Suleiman AB

Ann Acad Med Singap, 1987 Apr;16(2):238-9.

PMID: 3688799

Haematuria is always a significant finding that requires proper evaluation, and investigations may need to be initiated based on an adequate history. A careful urine microscopy of the urine using phase contrast microscopy is essential, and may predict the source of the haematuria based on red cell morphology, and point the direction that appropriate investigation should take. Infection tumours, obstruction; and calculi account for most cases of gross haematuria in adults. In paediatric patients, the causes of gross haematuria are readily apparent in half of the cases, but further investigations are necessary in the other half. All cases of haematuria require prompt evaluation and appropriate investigations to ensure correct and early treatment.

Clinical review of acute renal failure: a 5-year experience at Kuala Lumpur

Suleiman AB

Ann Acad Med Singap, 1982 Jan;11(1):32-5.

PMID: 7073225

Over a five year period, 184 patients were treated for acute renal failure. Uraemia was usually treated by peritoneal dialysis, and haemodialysis was reserved for post surgical and hypercatabolic patients. The overall mortality was 33.2% and was highest among surgical patients. These results were similar to previous reports. Peritoneal dialysis was usually effective in controlling uraemia. Uncontrolled sepsis remains a major problem, and septicaemia and gastrointestinal bleeding were adverse factors affecting the outcome. The combination of septicaemia and gastrointestinal bleeding commonly led to a fatal outcome.

Pacific Rim report: Malaysia

Suleiman AB, Mohan J

Telemed Today, 1998 Dec;6(6):16.

PMID: 10339345

Tuberculosis in living related donor renal transplant recipients

Suleiman AB, Musa Z, Morad Z

Ann Acad Med Singap, 1988 Jul;17(3):454-6.

PMID: 3064705

Ten out of 237 patients who underwent renal transplantation between 1975 and October 1986 developed tuberculosis. Most patients presented with vague symptoms, and typical symptoms commonly associated with tuberculosis were not common. Six had positive urine cultures. One patient had positive sputum and urine cultures and one had positive sputum and cerebrospinal fluid cultures for tuberculosis. In this last patient cryptococcus was also cultured from the sputum and CSF. Nine of the 10 patients responded well to antituberculosis therapy and was cured of the infection. The patient with associated cryptococcal infection died 2 months after presentation. Side effects of antituberculous therapy was minimal and easily resolved on stopping the offending drug.

Cryptococcosis in renal transplant recipients

Shaariah W, Morad Z, Suleiman AB

Transplant Proc, 1992 Oct;24(5):1898-9.

PMID: 1412904

Paracetamol: a cause for analgesic nephropathy and end-stage renal disease

Segasothy M, Suleiman AB, Puvaneswary M, Rohana A

Nephron, 1988;50(1):50-4.

PMID: 3050572

180 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance dialysis and those who had undergone renal transplantation were questioned retrospectively. 14 patients had consumed excessive quantities of analgesics (greater than 1 kg) prior to the institution of long-term dialysis or transplantation. Sonographic examination done on these patients indicated that 7 had renal papillary necrosis (RPN). The sonographic features were renal papillary calcifications surrounding the central sinus in a complete or incomplete garland pattern. In 5 of these patients RPN is attibutable to the excessive consumption of paracetamol. We have earlier reported 10 cases of RPN due to excessive consumption of paracetamol. Thus 15 cases of RPN attributable to paracetamol consumption (1.0-15.3 kg over a period ranging from 3 to 23 years) have been documented. It is concluded that paracetamol may assume an increasingly important role in the causation of analgesic nephropathy (AN) and ESRD.

Advances in health in Malaysia

Suleiman AB, Lye MS, Mathews A, Ravindran J

Med J Malaysia, 1995 May;50 Suppl A:S3-10.

PMID: 10968005

Preventive and promotive medicine in ambulatory clinical practice: a prospective simulated patient study

Wong YY, Nordin M, Suleiman AB

Int J Qual Health Care, 1995 Dec;7(4):333-41.

PMID: 8820209 DOI: 10.1093/intqhc/7.4.333

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the extent to which preventive and promotive advice is integrated into the clinical practice of doctors.
STUDY DESIGN: Using a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, the study compares the performance of doctors in giving healthy lifestyle advice for five clinical conditions, their perceived practice and their rating on the importance of disseminating selected key lifestyle messages.
DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: A total of 28 volunteers were trained to simulate the five clinical conditions which required related health advice and to rate the doctors' performance with the use of a prepared checklist. Simulated patient ratings of 343 doctor-patient encounters provided the data on doctors' health promotion efforts for the selected clinical conditions. A post-visit self-administered questionnaire survey of a sub-sample of 100 doctors gave an insight into their opinions and perceived practice.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Only in 49% of the instances was a health promotion message given. The doctors' encouraging interest in health education and health promotion and their positive perceptions of their volume of healthy lifestyle counselling were not borne out in actual clinical practice.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the extent of preventive and promotive health education in both the public and private health sectors is unacceptably low. The matter needs to be addressed through training programmes as well as the formulation of clear health promotion priorities and strategies in Malaysia.

Surgical complications of living unrelated kidney transplantations in a Third-World country

Lei C, Abdullah K, Morad Z, Suleiman AB

Transplant Proc, 1992 Oct;24(5):1815.

PMID: 1412860

Mortality in SLE nephritis

Suleiman AB, Morad Z, Tong CT

Ann Acad Med Singap, 1987 Jan;16(1):175-8.

PMID: 3496037

In a review of 112 patients with SLE nephritis treated between 1976 and 1982, 31 were known to have died. Renal failure (32.2%) was the commonest cause of death. Gastrointestinal haemorrhage (16%), infections (12.8%) and central nervous system involvement (6.5%) were important causes of death. Thirteen out of 17 patients dying in the presence of renal failure had initially presented with renal impairment. Renal biopsies in 16 patients who have died showed diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis in all except 1 patient, and uraemia was the commonest cause of death in these patients. Pregnancies terminating in abortions were followed by complications in 5 patients. Discontinuation of steroid therapy by patients was followed by complications, and ended in death in 6 patients.

Hepatitis in renal transplant recipients with and without donor-specific blood transfusion

Morad Z, Suleiman AB, Kong CT

Transplant Proc, 1989 Feb;21(1 Pt 2):1825-6.

PMID: 2652593

Patients' intention to make an up-front payment at private outpatient clinics in Malaysia as a no-show reduction method

Daher AM, Perremal N, Suleiman A

Sci Rep, 2024 Sep 27;14(1):22139.

PMID: 39333729 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-73623-1

Regulating patients' no-show behavior is critical from the standpoints of sustainable medical services and operational efficiencies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patients' intention to make partial up-front payments at outpatient clinics. This was a cross-sectional study design introducing a self-administered questionnaire to 221 outpatients at a private health facility. The questionnaire measured the patient's demographic characteristics, perceived usefulness (PU), trust in the health facility, and intention to make upfront partial payments. Out of the total respondents, 57.4% were female. There were 34.8% Malays, 40.6% Chinese and 24.6% Indians. The majority (66.5%) of the respondents attained tertiary education. Nearly a third of the respondents (30.5%) reported an income between 3000 and 5000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM). Regarding payment mode, just more than half (51.1%) made self-payment, and 21.8% by guaranteed letter. A quarter (24.9%) waited more than 3 h for consultation and 59.6% visited the health facility more than 2 times in a year. Initial analysis showed that PU, trust, age, education, number of visits, and hours of waiting were significantly associated with the intention to make a partial payment. Multiple linear regression showed that perceived usefulness (B = 0.517, p

Fulltext HIV Knowledge and Its Associated Sociodemographic Factors among Female Sex Workers in Malaysia

Cheah YK, Suleiman A, Ramly M

Malays J Med Sci, 2024 Jun;31(3):160-172.

PMID: 38984243 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2024.31.3.12

BACKGROUND: Female sex workers (FSWs) have a high risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. In spite of the alarming fact that a large proportion of FSWs does not have adequate HIV knowledge, the association between sociodemographic factors and HIV knowledge among FSWs have yet to be thoroughly explored in the context of Malaysia. The aims of this study are the following: i) to determine HIV knowledge and ii) to examine the associated factors of HIV knowledge.

METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted. Data from the Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance Survey (IBBS) 2017 (n = 630) were used. The survey was carried out in all states in Malaysia and its duration was 4 months (from March 2017 to June 2017). Ordered probit regressions were utilised to shed light on the association between sociodemographic variables and levels of HIV knowledge.

RESULTS: A large proportion of FSWs had middle-level HIV knowledge (44.1%). FSWs with tertiary-level education were 19.5% more likely to have high-level HIV knowledge compared to those without formal education. The probability of having low-level HIV knowledge was 6.8% lower among FSWs with monthly incomes of RM1,500-RM1,999 than those having incomes of ≤ RM499. Being single instead of married was associated with 7.6%-8% lower probabilities of having low- and middle-level HIV knowledge.

CONCLUSION: Public health interventions to improve FSWs' HIV knowledge need to take into consideration the role of sociodemographic factors.

A randomized, controlled trial to assess the safety of switching stable renal transplant patients from Sandimmun to Sandimmun Neoral

Loo CS, Morad Z, Lim TO, Fan KS, Suleiman AB

Transplant Proc, 1996 Jun;28(3):1328-9.

PMID: 8658680

Impact of the east Asian economic crisis on health and health care: Malaysia's response

Suleiman AB, Lye MS, Yon R, Teoh SC, Alias M

Asia Pac J Public Health, 1998;10(1):5-9.

PMID: 10050200

In the wake of the east Asian economic crisis, the health budget for the public sector in Malaysia was cut by 12%. The Ministry of Health responded swiftly with a series of broad-based and specific strategies. There was a careful examination of the operating expenditure and where possible measures were taken to minimise the effects of the budget constraints at the service interface. The MOH reprioritised the development of health projects. Important projects such as rural health projects and training facilities, and committed projects, were continued. In public health, population-based preventive and promotive activities were expected to experience some form of curtailment. There is a need to refocus priorities, maximise the utilisation of resources, and increase productivity at all levels and in all sectors, both public and private, in order to minimise the impact of the economic downturn on health.

Analgesic nephropathy associated with paracetamol

Segasothy M, Tong BK, Kamal A, Murad Z, Suleiman AB

Aust N Z J Med, 1984 Feb;14(1):23-6.

PMID: 6590001

Seven cases of analgesic nephropathy due to excessive ingestion of paracetamol are reported. None of these patients had been taking any other analgesic. All had radiological features of papillary necrosis. With the increasing use of paracetamol as a mild analgesic it is necessary to be aware of the possibility that paracetamol may induce analgesic nephropathy.

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