Forty nine General Practitioners made a lasting impact in the Malaysian mental health landscape by graduating in an intensive Certificate Programme in Mental Health organised by the Malaysian Society for Academic Psychiatry.
The certificate of completion, jointly awarded by the Society, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Casemix Solutions was the first such certification to scale up mental health service in Primary Care in Malaysia.
The President of the Society, Professor Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj, who is also the President of the Malaysian Mental Health Association, congratulated the General Practitioners who had completed a rigorous six-month journey to enhance their knowledge and skills in mental health. He said this during the graduation ceremony of the course participants during their graduation ceremony at the Academies of Medicine Putrajaya on the 8th of May 2025.
Dr Andrew reported that out of fifty who enrolled, forty nine succeeded — a testament not only to the commitment of the doctors, but also to the urgency and relevance of the course in the current Malaysian healthcare landscape.
He added that mental health is no longer a peripheral issue and that it is central not only to the individual's well being and family stability but also to our nation's productivity and progress.
“For far too long, mental health services have been the neglected child of our healthcare system. Services remain fragmented, access is uneven, and stigma still prevents many from seeking help,” he quipped in his opening remarks at the graduation ceremony.
He urged the General Practitioners to be the change agents. “You can bridge the enormous gap between the burden of mental illness and access to timely, competent care. With this training, you are now equipped with knowledge and confidence. Not just with information, but with the ability to intervene early, reduce suffering, and even save lives,” exhorted Dr Andrew.
He reminded the audience that the course, the first of its kind in Malaysia, was not intended to build a parallel system but only to strengthen what already exists. “We are empowering the very backbone of our healthcare system - our general practitioners,to play an essential role in the prevention, early detection, and management of mental illness,” said Dr Andrew.
The chief guest, Associate Professor Dr Hazian Hamzah, who is the President of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, delivered the keynote address at the ceremony. She said her Academy fully supported the efforts made by the Malaysian Society for Academic Psychiatry to scale up mental health services at the primary care level through the introduction of this certificate programme.
Dr Hazian highlighted the reality that the number of psychiatrists in the country was dismally low, at 460 psychiatrists and that it would take a long time to meet the World Health Organization recommendation of one psychiatrist per 10,000 population.
“Therefore, the only way to meet the needs of the population is to empower primary care doctors to detect and treat common psychiatric problems while referring complex cases to psychiatrists” She further added , “This will also reduce the bottle neck at specialist psychiatric services while facilitating a conducive therapeutic alliance since primary care doctors and general practitioners usually more familiar with their regular patients”
Dr. Nur Syakira Abu Samah, a General Practitioner with SP Care Group, a notable chain of clinics in Klang Valley, expressed her satisfaction with the Mental Health Certificate Course. She said she enrolled for the course because she felt the course would bring advancement to her knowledge in managing basic mental health conditions.
“I feel I am now empowered to not only diagnose mental health conditions but also treat mild conditions that do not need immediate referral to a psychiatrist. Before signing up for the course, I did not have the confidence to so,“ added Dr Syakira.
SP Care is the only health service group in the country that had all its doctors sign up for the course. Dr Nur Syakira added that the course being fully online and ‘on demand’ made it suitable for the General Practitioner like herself.
Dr Harry Dinesh Mahalingam, the Chief Executive Officer of SP Care Group and also a participant himself, said his doctors were already competent in managing diabetes, hypertension, asthma and many other conditions, but in completing this course, they are now confident in treating mental health conditions as well, with psychiatric referral only in complex cases.
He added that the cases of mental health conditions have increased rapidly in recent years, and the frontliners of the medical healthcare system should be competent to identify individuals at an early stage or when they see a patient in need of help. These general practitioners will also be able to remove the stigma people have from seeing a psychiatrist for their condition.
Those wishing to sign up for the next course intake in July 2025 may visit msap.org.my or contact [email protected] for further details. This Certificate Course in Mental Health is also awarded 20 CPD points and is HRDF claimable.
This content is provided by the Malaysian Society for Academic Psychiatry
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