MMI’s 7th Year in the Making
Greetings Malaysian Medics,
It has been a great honor for all of us here at MMI to be serving the Malaysian medical student community both locally and abroad this year, especially in this extraordinary time. MMI has come very far in the last 7 years and it is without a doubt the result of our 200 committee members’ collective efforts. We owe our success this year to all Malaysian medical students (our committee or not), who have been amazingly active and enthusiastic to improve oneself.
This year itself has been tremendously challenging, and the unpredictable circumstances created a lot of anxiety and uncertainties about our future. To the graduating class of 2020, we commend your resilience and we wish you all the best in your post-graduate life. To everyone still in medical school, more opportunities lie in wait for us, and all of us at MMI can’t wait to work through it with you!
In spite of the seemingly insurmountable challenges this year, we were very fortunate to have a team of dedicated members. We cannot be more proud of the work we have accomplished this term and we are proud to present our milestones and the achievements we have achieved this term.
Since September 2019, MMI saw significant changes within its inner workings. We have completely redeveloped the organisational structure in order to streamline our branding and to truly bring all of our councils onto one platform. This has allowed us to achieve what we have this term, which will be highlighted to you as you continue reading. We have worked towards:
Redeveloping the hierarchy system within MMI. We have since introduced several key positions and established new ‘Offices’ that will work towards communicating with all the branch councils;
Creating a system of accountability whereby all councils are now obliged to respond and act together as we move towards streamlining the organisation;
Defining the terms for Branch Councils, Chapter Councils and Chapters;
Reintroducing International Ambassadors (IAs) and appointing new IAs to represent two new Chapters - MMI India and MMI China;
Mandating 5 General Meetings throughout the term to help keep all councils involved and in check with each other.
As a growing platform, we have broadened our horizons and we have started to work with numerous organisations. In the last 12 months, we have established seven new partners to aid us in our projects. At present, we have diversified our approach to include the pharmacy and the dietetics community as we believe that they will play an important role in our aims to promote a robust healthcare system with impeccable multidisciplinary teamwork.
With that in mind, during our tenure as Executive Co-Chairs, it was clear to us that the way to move forward was to establish an Advocacy Office that will help champion all of our issues related to the student community and the healthcare fraternity on this platform. All councils can now put their efforts collaboratively into one platform for a stronger collective voice.
After an intensive 3 months long study, our Advocacy Office published the 3-Year Global Strategic Plan which outlines the efforts and the initiatives in the coming three years. This forms the foundation for all of our future projects to take place across all councils.
The Policy Action Committee is also the first of its kind in Malaysia, to be initiated and be led by Malaysian medical students across 8 countries. We have 2 policy brief published with another 5 in the final stages of review. We expect for them to be published by October 2020.
When it comes to publicity, we have achieved significant exposure across all of MMI’s social media platform. MMI Doctors have received most engagements, owing to their persistent championing of issues regarding contract HOs and MOs’ employment and future prospects.
With our website in place, we now have more than 36,000 pageviews with an average of 150 pageviews per day. We cannot be more proud of the website that has been revamped several times since the start of our term. Humans of Medicine contributes to a large number of viewership and we are constantly in awe of the stories that are written by our team of writers.
Let’s not forget about the COVID-19 pandemic. MMI responded by setting up the COVID-19 Special Taskforce and partnered with the Welfare Taskforce for Malaysian Students Abroad to provide support to Malaysians students. We have released a number of infographics, several webinars and even podcasts addressing the situation.
With numerous materials and resources being put up independently by our branch councils, we have set up the Publication Office to aid in standardization and quality control in the long run. This term, we were hard at work to produce the first Internship Guide, that will help medical graduates in applying their internship locally in Malaysia and abroad. This guide will be published in the coming weeks!
We are immensely grateful to our partners who have supported us in our events and our cause. Without our partners both locally and abroad, much of what we do would not be possible. We are also thankful to all the sponsors and collaborators, particularly for the Malaysian Medical Summit (MMS) 2020. Without their gracious support, we would not be able to pull of our first virtual Summit that has inspired so many Malaysian medical students to do more. Special thanks to all of our Malaysian medical students who worked to make the summit a reality.
It has been an amazing journey at MMI, and our accomplishments reflect the incredible advancements of all Malaysian medical students. We are extremely proud of the achievements and the milestones we have achieved this year.
As MMI approaches its 8th year of establishment, we are happy to hand over the foundation that we have rebuilt and improved, and we are excited to see the achievements of our new incoming Executive Co-Chairs and their team. To the incoming councils, we wish everyone the very best.
At MMI, everyone is a student leader. Our dedication has made a difference, and we will sustain our efforts. To all the medical students reading this, know that you can make a change too.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Dr Darien Liew & Low Wen Yan
Dr Darien Liew & Low Wen Yan
They are the 7th Executive Co-Chairs of MMI. At the end of their term, Low Wen Yan is a fifth year medical student at University College Cork, Ireland, while Dr Darien Liew is a medical graduate working with refugees at Klinik Amal Muhajir.