“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine”, said William Osler, the 19^th-century Canadian Physician who was also one of four professors who founded Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1889.

On 22 January 2022, the second-year medical students of UCSI University undertook this call of duty in the annual “UCSI Medical Outreach Programme” to bring free health education and services to the aboriginals (known plainly to Malaysians as “Orang Asli”) of Kampung Orang Asli Sunggala, Port Dickson. The services included the measurement of blood pressure, blood glucose and Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a basic health screening package. The women in the village were also trained on breast self-examination while the children were taught basic and proper oral and hand hygiene.

Planning was underway months before, and when the day finally arrived, we were geared up to set out on this mission and bring our hard work to fruition. This was made possible through the many off-session opportunities to interact and mingle with the villagers to understand their lifestyle, concerns and their awareness of health so that the services delivered may be made more applicable in their context and according to their needs.

While not many adults from the village turned up for the programme, we were encouraged by the enthusiasm shown by the children in their active participation in the sessions. The delight and eagerness on their faces gave them away, and we certainly enjoyed reciprocating the interest they have shown by rewarding them with toys and titbits.

Nevertheless, the biggest reward remains that this outreach benefitted the villagers tremendously both educationally and materially. Before the event day, donation booths were set up in UCSI University KL Campus and UCSI Springhill Campus whereby the public could drop off food items and clothes for donation. All items collected were given to the villagers as a complement to the health education and services in hopes that the villagers may find them useful.

A total of 23 individuals came together to make this programme a success, of which 19 were second-year medical students and two were our very own professors, Assistant Professor Puvaneswaren Parmasivam and Associate Professor Dr Kyu Kyu Win who graced the event with their knowledge and guidance. We were also pleased to be joined by two seniors, Wong Jian Yao, fifth-year medical student and Su Yik Peng, UCSI MD alumnus who generously shared their experience and expertise in conducting the health screenings. The day ended with a presentation of a token of appreciation to the village head (Ketua Kampung), Tok Batin Zamri bin Harun for his amicable cooperation throughout the entire visit to the village.

Not to mention, the programme was entirely financed internally with Medical Student Association (MedicSA) funds, lecturer-donations as well as funds raised from selling cups, badges and reusable straws over two days in UCSI Hospital Springhill’s Pusat Pemberian Vaksin (PPV). The response exceeded our expectations for the funds raised were more than enough to cover the expenses of the programme. This served as an enormous encouragement for us to give back to the society by using the funds prudently and responsibly.

Our call of duty goes beyond the clinical setting. It is the responsibility to educate the society to be in charge of their own bodies and their own health. It is holding each other accountable as physicians to serve the community with our very best by upholding integrity, excellence, a commitment to lifelong learning and to show courage, leadership and empathy where needed. UCSI Medical Outreach Programme 3.0 has served as a platform on which we can put these into practice, and certainly in a successful manner.

Stay tuned as UCSI Medical Outreach Programme 4.0 is coming!