By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 23: The inaugural Asean Digital Mobile Health Summit that aims to drive advancement in digital healthcare services and medical tourism in Sarawak, in particularly and Asean countries in general, will be taking place on Nov 16-17 here.
Organised by the Asean-China Entrepreneurs Association (ACE) in collaboration with Malaysia Medical Association (MMA), doctors, nurses, specialists, and industry experts in the medical and healthcare field will gather to share and keep up to date with the latest development and megatrends in digital mobile health technologies.
MaNaDr Malaysia chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Liew Shan Fap, who will be one of the speakers at the Summit, pointed out that the medical and healthcare sector had also felt the effects of digital transformation and disruption.
“We have to face it, and we have a big dream for the medical and healthcare sector through MaNaDr. We also want to spearhead digital mobile health in Sarawak as well as Malaysia and Asean and beyond,” he told a press conference to introduce the Summit at Digital Economy Hub, OneJaya Mall, here.
MaNaDr is a comprehensive healthcare mobile platform (app) founded by a team of doctors who are motivated by the power of information technology to make lifelong healthcare affordable and available to all anytime and anywhere. It was launched in Singapore in October 2017.
“The time has come to transform the medical and health sector. Digital transformation posed a challenge to us, but by holding the Summit, we aim to drive advancement in digital mobile health as well as medical tourism to Kuching and Sarawak as a whole so that we can all stay ahead of digital disruption,” he said.
The Summit, Dr Liew emphasised, would be an important platform to initiate cooperation towards Asean-wide telemedicine guideline and, ultimately, to build a cross-border digital mobile health ecosystem.
“With a comprehensive ecosystem, doctors and specialists can extend their medical practice and clinic business beyond the four walls of the clinics and hospitals,” he added.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg is expected to officiate at the two-day Summit, to be attended by Asean member states’ ambassadors and participated by some 500 international and local delegates.
The inaugural Summit will explore digital technology and innovation in medical practices and healthcare with impactful talks on ‘Are we in the age of pervasive telehealth’ by Dr Rachel Teoh, who is a family physician at Punggol Ripples Family Clinic, Singapore; ‘Best in class digital IoT, devices and digital therapeutic: Tele-ophthalmology/AI in DRP by Dr Jack Tan (founding director of Northeast Medical Group, Singapore); and ‘The opportunities and challenges of telehealth in Malaysia’ by Dr Liew himself, among others.
There will also be an exhibition and booths open for booking for those interested.
Delegation tickets are priced RM250 for local and US$150 for international countries, while members of MMA and Society of Private Medical Practitioners Sarawak (SPMPS) can get it at the promotional price of RM100 per participant.
Also present were guest-of-honour political secretary to the Chief Minister Tan Kai, who represented Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, ACEA senior vice president Eddie Wee and vice president Michael Liong, MaNaDr Singapore deputy CEO Prof Dr Richard Seow, and Dean of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Faculty of Medical and Health Services Prof Dr Ahmad Rata Rasit.
For more information, visit www.manadrmobilehealth.com/acea-submit-2019 or contact Michael Liong at 012-8898280 or email michaelliong@ace-association.org, Harry Hii (016-8856195 or harry@ace-association.org), Damien Chai (016-8600883 or damien@ace-association.org) or MMA Sarawak branch Dorothy Tan (016-8078721 or mmaswk@gmail.com).
For Singapore, contact Prof Dr Richard Seow (+65-9776 0137 or richard.seow@manadr.com) or Sunny Lim (+65-9799 1869 or sunny.lim@manadr.com). — DayakDaily
