President: Jeyendran Kanagarajah

Deputy Presidents: Ahmad Nizam

Marcus Voo Wei Syn

Secretary: Alan Na Wei Lun

Vice-Secretary: Sharmaine Marie

Treasurer: Khairunisa Yahiya

Vice Presidents:

Benedict Chong (Education)

Kugan Varatha Raju (Advertising & Publicity)

Mexmollen Marcus (Social)

Zakri Aziz (Sports)

Chong Chaw Jong (Students’ Affairs)

Directors:

Education Director: Mervyn Ian

Assistant Education Director:Vicnesh Thillynathan

Editorial Board Director: Helmy Sajali

Advertising & Publicity Director: Kong Chau Shing

Social Directors: Ruban Prasaath Vejayan

Christina Eleanor Martin

Events Director: Shirley Liew Chiah Hui

Sports Director: Kiran Kandiah

Students’ Affairs Director: Monesh Pillai

Orientation Director: Thuruven Sothu Gorendan

Assistant Orientation Director: Sammy Lee Kian Yap

Hostel Representatives:

5th Hostel: Jeya Prasanth

4th Hostel: William Chung Fui Ching

Pad Fak Hostel: Mitchel Brian Jimilin

Bungalow: Beatrix Hii

KURSK MALAYSIAN MEDICAL

STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (KMSA)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2008/09

Health Talk Latest Medical Related News From the Web

Healthiest Fast Food Values Watching your spending? Who isn’t, right? Here are the top three

healthiest picks from the value menus.

McDonald‟s McChicken Sandwich (Dollar Value Menu): This

pick weighs in at just 360 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat.

Burger King‟s Whopper Jr. (Value Menu): If you love a

burger, this is your healthiest budget buy: Just hold the mayo and

it’s a 290-calorie lunch.

McDonald‟s Ice Cream Sundae (Dollar Value Menu): Order

strawberry and get 20% of your daily calcium for less than 300

calories. From http://living.health.com/2009/02/19/healthiest-fast-food-values/

Public warning on 3 slimming products Malaysia:The public is advised to stop the sale, distribution and

use of the slimming products Slimway Herbs, BMI9 Xylimming

Day Capsule and BMI9 Xylimming Night Capsule with immedi-

ate effect as they have been found to contain the scheduled poison

"Sibutramine".

The Health Ministry's Pharmaceutical Services Division director

Eishah A. Rahman said the use of these herbal products without

supervision by doctors could lead to adverse effects like high

blood pressure and other cardiovascular complications.

"Medicine containing 'Sibutramine' can only be issued by doctors

or obtained with a doctor's prescription at pharmacies," she said in

a statement on Wednesday. To read the complete article, please visit http://thestar.com.my, Feb 18 2009,

Nation

Plan for more eye doctors Malaysia: The Health Ministry plans to increase the number of

eye doctors in the country from 350 to 525 by 2020, said minister

Datuk Liow Tiong Lai.

“Our target is to have 1.5 ophthalmologists per 100,000 popula-

tion by that time. Currently, the ratio is 1.3 to 100,000,” he told a

press conference after officially opening the Lions Eye Clinic at

Mahsa College here yesterday…. To read the complete article, please visit http://

malaysianmedicine.blogspot.com/index.html.

Housemen lack basic know-how KUALA LUMPUR: Some medical universities, both local and

overseas, are churning out doctors who cannot carry out common

medical procedures, have no proper clinical exposure, cannot

communicate effectively and cannot even take down the history of

patients properly for diagnosis and treatment.

Senior medical consultants in government hospitals are now

saddled with the task of having to retrain these people to ensure

they meet the country's standard of medical practice.

Some of these fresh doctors are retained in their houseman train-

ing postings for years, some even up to six years, because they

cannot meet the standards. The compulsory housemanship is two

years.

In view of this problem, the Malaysian Medical Council…… To read the complete article, please visit http://

malaysianmedicine.blogspot.com/index.html.

The KMSA 2008/2009 Editorial Board

Editorial Board Director Mr. Helmy Sajali E mail: amiesajali@gmail.com YM: amiesajali@yahoo.com

Editor –In – Chief Miss. Sherlyn Marcella E mail: shaney_westlife@hotmail.com MSN: shaney_westlife@hotmail.com

Events Journalist Miss. Abigail Rembui Anak Jerip E mail: miss_a2db@yahoo.com YM: miss_a2db@yahoo.com

Columnist Mr. Alan Na E mail: wlshakespeare@yaho.com MSN: alpha66_my@hotmail.com

Columnist Mr. Anesh Nair E mail: aneshnair@hotmail.com MSN: aneshnair@hotmail.com

Vol. № 01, February 2009

KMSA’s Christmas Week 2009

New Year Twisted

Telematch Album -page 5-

Words From Mr. President

Read what our President has

to say -page 2-

Exclusive Interview

Read accounts of our ex-seniors about life as a houseofficer. -page 6

PLUS: KMSA 2008/09 New Committee Members

Kursk, 18th of February 2009—A meeting was held on the 18th of February 2009

organized by the Kursk Malaysian Medical Students‟ Association to discuss the

issue of summer practice in Russia. It has been a tradition for students of Rus-

sian medical universities to do our summer attachments back home in our hospi-

tals. Few have attempted to do it here, but most students usually do it back

home. So when the MMC

came out with this

shocker decision, many of

us took it as a slap to our

faces.

The aim of the

meeting was to come up with a single direction for the KMSA to work on this

issue, with the agreement and support of the whole Kursk Malaysian commu-

nity as a united front. This discussion was a proof that the KMSA committee

did not want to make any unilateral decisions and wanted to take into account

the views and opinions of the our students.

The meeting kicked off at about 5 pm with a short briefing by the

KMSA secretary Mr. Alan Na. He briefed the attendees on his correspondence

with the MMC president Tan Sri Dato‟ Seri Dr. Hj. Mohd Ismail bin Merican.

Photocopies of the correspondence which was done via email were distributed.

Next the KMSA president Mr. Jeyendran took to the stage and gave everyone

a round up about his discussions over the weeks with the presidents of Malay-

sian Students‟ Associations of the other four recognized medical universities in

Russia (Vologograd,

Nizhny, RSMU & MMA). He also spoke about his repeated discussions with

our dean of international students‟ faculty.

Next the discussion was opened to the floor for a brainstorming session. Many

students voiced out their views, suggestions, opinions and also their grouses.

Mr. President himself announced the suggestions that the committee itself

came up with after repeated internal discussions. Among the suggestions and

comments from the floor included the following:-

Students are allowed to do their postings in Malaysia from clinical

years onwards (4th and 5th years).

To cooperate with Malaysian‟ Students‟ Associations from other

universities to write a petition to the MMC to request for a review of their

decision.

To convince the MMC to postpone this decision to next year, citing

reasons such as many students have already booked their flight tickets back,

holiday plans have been made, giving the university morre time to plan as this

is the first time they are doing this.

To accept the fact of doing our practical here and to not be too rebellious against the MMC, to avoid graver issues such as

derecognisation of the university by the Higher Education Unit.

To suggest to the Administration of the university to restructure their elective postings plan and syllabus, because the

present plan are obsolete and was created for students to do the attachments in Malaysia. (which students has flexible time

and no limitation of practices).

There was much debate and slight arguments here and there, but Mr. President and Mr. Secretary did their best to bring

the students back on track and to achieve the common aim of finding a single path to act on. Varied views were voiced out, but at the

very end of the discussion, it was agreed that the KMSA committee, together with the students shall proceed with discussions with

other MSA from other 4 universities in negotiating with the MMC on possibly postponing the ruling to next year, and at the same

time, to work closely with the dean‟s office in restructuring the elective postings plan in the event that all of us have to complete our

practicals here in Kursk. The meeting ended at 7 pm. Please be alert to the details in this issue, on official media of KMSA (Facebook,

posters, KMSA‟s Newsflash, and the KMSA committee members).

And the Summer Practice’s Saga Continues… by Anesh

Mr. Alan explaining every documents involved in this long-running saga

The students demanded their voices to be heard

Greetings, Salam sejahtera and Dobre Poszhalovat to our Malaysian family of Kursk. We present you our first newsletter for the year 2009 and also the very first after forming the new working committee late last year. We kicked start early this year by organizing the Best Man’s Kitchen and the Twisted Telematch which was held

in conjunction with the Xmas and New Year celebrations. Enthusiasm of fellow students seen throughout these events has prompted us to schedule events as such in our calendar as one of KMSA’s annual event. Ah, before I forget a heartiest congratulation to all our winter batch sen-iors who graduated recently. Wishing them all the best in their future undertakings! Subsequently we ‘rested’ awhile due to the exam season and winter holidays. Now, once again we are back at work, this time dealing mainly with - The ‘summer practice’ shock. We have been working tirelessly on this issue since the MMC delegates’ visit late November last year by corresponding with the MMC through emails seeking consideration of our plight. A meeting was also held with our very own students to inform recent updates and gather suggestions relating to this issue. Nevertheless, it has happened and now we are committed in working towards mini-mizing the ‘damage’. Currently, we are in the midst of providing suggestions to the University on how we could arrange the sum-mer practice, which now seems bound to happen (judging by the recent directives given to the university by the Malaysian Em-bassy in Moscow), to the best benefit of our students. Meanwhile,

we are also writing a united petition to MMC together with the other four recognized universities of Russia to seek postponement of this summer practice ruling to at least next year. By this, we hope to resolve the ticketing problems, to calm the ‘not prepared yet’ mindset of our students and also to grant the uni-versity more time to plan a more systematic and quality summer practice for our students. We kindly seek your support and cooperation in working out this issue as ‘mishandling’ of it could result in dire consequences.

Preparation for the Volgograd Intervarsity Games 2009 is underway too. This time, we have taken to task promising a more transparent and just selection system for all games and supporters, avoiding any so called cronyism in our sports. Cmon sportsman sportswoman of Kursk, having won the title consecutively for 3 years, we know we can do it again. Let’s cry out in one voice ‘Kita Dengar Suara, Kursk Tetap Juara!’. Do keep in touch with us and watch out for our future activities which we will unfold as we go on. Love all, Serve all…with that I sign off, hoping that you will be pleased reading this edition of NewsFlash as much as we enjoyed bring-ing this to you.

Words From Mr. President by Jeyendran Kanagarajah

he patient awakened after the operation to find her-

self in a room with all the blinds drawn. "Why are all

the blinds closed?" she asked her doctor. "Well," the sur-

geon responded, "They're fighting a huge fire across the

street, and we didn't want you to wake up and think the

operation had failed."

octors at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York have gone

on strike. Hospital officials say they will find out

what the Doctors' demands are as soon as they can get a

pharmacist over there to read the picket signs!"

onder This: The difference between a neurotic and a

psychotic is that, while a psychotic thinks that 2 + 2 =

5, a neurotic knows the answer is 4, but it worries him.

Doctor Vs. Mechanic

orris was removing some engine valves from a car on

the lift when he spotted the famous heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey, who was standing off to the side, waiting

for the service manager. Morris, somewhat of a loud mouth,

shouted across the garage, "Hey DeBakey...Is dat you? Come

over here a minute."

The famous surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to where

Morris was working on a car. Morris in a loud voice, all could

hear, said argumentatively, "So Mr. Fancy doctor, look at this

work. I also take valves out, grind 'em, put in new parts, and when I finish this baby will purr like a kitten. So how come

you get the big bucks, when you and me are doing basically

the same work?"

DeBakey, very embarrassed, walked away and said softly, to

Morris, "Try doing your work with the engine running."

D

T

P

Moscow, 6th February 2009—A total of 25 people went on the Moscow One Day City Tour

organized by the Malaysian Student association (MSA). The participants comprised mostly of

students of Kursk State Medical University and parents of graduates who attended the

graduation ceremony held recently. We left Kursk in a 28-seater bus at night (5th February

2009) and arrived in Moscow at around 10 am the

following day. The first stop was made in McDonalds

where everyone freshened up and had breakfast. It was also here that we met up

with our English Guide, Mr. Alexei.

At around 11am that we left McDonalds and began our Moscow One Day

City Tour. It began with a tour around the

city of Moscow in the bus – The Observation

tour. During the tour, the guide elaborated on

the history of Moscow, including the glorious

past during the Soviet times, showed us many

historical buildings and monuments, etc. The

tour brought us past many significant histori-

cal sites in Moscow, including the Christ the

Saviour Cathedral, the Tretyakovskaya Art

Gallery, The Golden circle of Moscow, to name a few. The first stop was made in the

Red Square, where we got down on our feet. It was rather cold that day with an aver-

age temperature of -10°C.We walked past the St Basil’s cathedral, Lenin’s Mauso-

leum, Gum Shopping Complex and the Moscow State Historical Museum. After that,

we proceeded further to observe the ‘changing of the guards’ outside Kremlin. We

were lucky as we managed to catch the hourly ceremony of guard changing. Next it was followed with a trip inside the

Kremlin which lasted for about an hour. After the Kremlin, we stopped at Arbat Street, one of Russia’s oldest street spend-

ing about an hour and a half having lunch and strolling along the historical street. There was nothing much historical about

the street as it was now filled with modern shops and complexes.

The next stop was the State Darwin’s Museum. This museum showcases developments in the field of evolutionary

biology. Many found the visit to the museum quite interesting and said that they would come back for a second time. Worth

mentioning here is that the entrance to the museum was free for students, provided that the student card was shown. The

visit lasted till 6pm when we then left for shopping at the well known Mega Ashan Shopping complex. It was only at

around 8.30 that the bus reached the destination as the driver was unfamiliar with the directions. Finally at about

11.00pm, our Moscow One day tour came to an end and we began on the journey back to Kursk. It wasn’t a smooth journey

back though. As we were about 3 hour away from Kursk, the bus skidded off the road and was stuck in a ditch of snow.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. A call was made to the travel company and within 15 minutes, 2 emergency mashruts were

arranged to pick us up. Everybody was taken back to Kursk safely.

On the part of MSA, we sincerely apologize for the unnecessary emotional trauma and inconveniences caused. We

would like to explain that all arrangements for the trip were done according to proper procedures. We approached a reputa-

ble travel agency which arranged a bus through a licensed bus company. All arrangements were made according to the

number of people that we have for the trip. We assure you that no shortcuts were taken and this unfortunate incident could

not be foreseen in any manner. As such, we deemed it was necessary to compensate something to the participants to at least

provide some emotional comfort. Using the Emergency Welfare Fund which was established for such purposes, an amount

of RUB 150 was reimbursed to every single participant of the trip together with some mandarin oranges. We would like to

assure you that we will take more measures in ensuring your comfort should there be any more of such events in the future.

МОСКВА: One-day City Tour by Alan Na

M

Close-up: Kremlin, The centre of Russian Administra-

tion

Inside the bus

House MAN –Fire Man –Police MAN –Super MAN (by Dr. Roland Victor)

What do they have in common? The 24-7 nonstop duty.

WHERE AM I?: I have been posted to Hospital Teluk Intan which is my 3rd choice. It’s still much of a challenge (being a KL

citizen). However, I thank God for not being sent “across the seas” since it’s just 2.5 hours drive back to KL. It’s a peaceful town

similar to Kursk 5 years ago apart from having McD, KFC n Pizza Hut!! Everything is just a stone throw away, ideal for a H.O to

save money since things are cheap here.

MY JOB: I am currently in Pediatrics ward. Nothing much on the first few days beside paperwork and assimilating to the Malay-

sian hospital management. Working is a bit stressful, starting from 7am till 5pm. There are ample of wardrounds (H.O rounds,

M.O rounds and Specialist rounds). Be prepared to clerk continually to the point that you feel like a secretary. It seems that the

paperless system is not succesfully implemented. You’d be surprised that you have written about 50 sheets of forms and papers

with your name chopped all over the place from the time your patient enters the ward to the time he walks out. The irony of doing

this in a high-tech ICT country.

“ON-CALL” basically means 36 straight hours of work. Dream off the days of REM sleeps because patients will pop-up at

2.50am, and another by 4.00am and another at 6.00am. The good part is, we now do less “on-calls” due to the increased number

of doctors in the country. The bad part is, the lesser calls, the lesser RM100 you earn. However, I’d still pick sleep over the

RM100. A good sleep is undeniably PRICELESS.

MY SOCIAL LIFE: Other Housemen have claimed that I am a Martian trying to fit in all the things I used to do back in univer-

sity. Squeezing time late at night for EPL matches, cooking, fulsal and a bit of socializing. As a doctor, you should be complete

role model to the society and avoid the unhealthy lifestyle. I stand out among the obvious. Trust me, people do seriously look up

to you. So don’t be like the rest, OUTSTANDING is the word.

Last but not least is this advice to those who are graduating soon, or to those who would like to start early:

If you wish to have a flying start in the Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) system, do download the Malaysian protocol

from the KKM website from each department and read it up. A simple and easy way to manage patients in Malaysia. Don’t waste

your time. The Russian and Malaysian system are different. What we have to do as foreign grads be it from Russia, Ukraine,

Egypt, UK or anywhere around the world is to adapt as soon as possible.

Wishing all of you the best of luck in the coming exam. Congratulations to KMSA for living up to the dot com age.

Dr. Roland Victor

(Former President of KMSA)

LIFE AS A HOUSEMAN IN SIBU by Dr. Benjamin Ho

Houseman life practically begins with tagging for 10-14 days, depending on the department you are assigned to.Surgery-tagging

for 10 days.7am till 11pm everyday. After the tagging period, working hours will be as office hours (7am till 5pm). The best on-

calls would be on Friday , leaving office by Saturday 12 noon. Do try to brush up on all your practical skills, anatomy and physi-

ology. Remember how to handle “fluid and electrolyte balance” in patients. (Eg: How to manage hypokalemic patients in terms of

replacing, maintaining their fluids etc). Try to learn as much as possible from the senior House Officers and Medical Officers. Get

as much rest as possible. Stay strong and NEVER GIVE UP.

Dr. Benjamin Ho

(Hospital Sibu)

HOUSEMAN

IN ACTION by Sherlyn Marcella.

What can you expect after 6 years of stuffing your nose under

those thick medical books? Relief? Joy? Excitement? HOR-

ROR? 2 of our seniors took some precious time off to reveal to

our editor-in-chief, to be shared among us, the present stu-

dents, the topsy turvy life of being a House Officer in Malaysia.

Here it goes….

Anesh says……

Many of us Kurskians are bogged down by depressing issues these days, be it exams,

pending atrabotkas, post-holiday depression, but the winning trophy has to go to the MMC‟s

recent decision about our summer practices. Don‟t even think I‟m going to talk about this

matter. I myself self-admittedly am indulging in denial, and still picture myself going back to

the Land of Nasi Lemaks in July, as usual, without problems…

But anyway, we all need a break from this issue. I wanted to touch on something that

has been very close to us since the day each of us landed on Slavic soil. It has been creeping

into every aspect of our lives; it can make our mundane life here interesting, but also can ruin

lives for some. All of us indulge in it, it is, the one and only, GOSSIP!

Gossip can be defined as rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature. I‟m not

going to broach into celebrity gossip and what not, but about personal, everyday gossip, the

kind which deals with your family and friends.

Why do we gossip? To make life more spicy I guess, like the curries we love so much.

So there you have it, the recipe of good gossip. You get a juicy, meaty piece of information

about someone, then add some curry powder by twisting some facts, and then add salt by

making your own wild deductions about the person, and voila!

It is undeniable that within the Kursk Malaysian community, gossip is a major issue.

Every one indulges in it I‟m sure, except for handful I guess (really ar?). But why do we do it?

Simple. It‟s too BORING here. Entertainment in Kursk is almost non-existent. Some people

indulge in excessive consumption of a certain type of beverage, ehem. But otherwise people

can‟t seem to entertain themselves enough. So, people resort to one of the liveliest forms of

entertainment since the origin of human speech, GOSSIP.

We gossip about who coupled with whom, who broke up with whom, who fought with whom,

who moved to apartment with whom, who moved back to hostel because of what, who went to

Switzerland with whom, who is rich and loaded, who isn‟t sitting in lecture with whom, who

got so drunk on New Year‟s Eve, who did this, who did that, who this, who that, who how why

when arrrrrrrrgghhh!!

There‟s just too many. But things do really get a bit ugly when a person‟s reputation is

tainted. And the way stories get twisted and turned is simply unimaginable. You can experi-

ment. For instance, let‟s say you make up a story about someone to your group mates. Let‟s

say you tell them that „A‟ slept with an Evropa cashier. Give it a good one week, and don‟t be

surprised if by the end of the week a friend comes up to you and says, “Eh macha you heard

about „A‟ ar, it seems he slept with a Gastronom cashier in Gastronom itself and people shop-

ping saw them and our dean also was there and he saw and expelled him on the spot la

macha!”

Notice in between the excited yells of “macha”, the basic fact remained, but was

twisted and spiced up. This is a very wild example, but sort of encapsulates what I‟m trying to

say.

Word here in Kursk spreads like wildfire. There are no secrets. The moment something leaves

the cavity of your mouth, it‟s a matter of time for the whole community to know about it.

I guess indulging in a bit of „small talk‟ or „cakap kosong‟ among friends is acceptable.

But if it involves facts about other people, sometimes even people you are not even acquainted

to, then its best to mind your words, especially if the information is not verified. Because re-

member, when you tell Ali something controversial about Lim, and Ali tells Muthu the same

thing, and Muthu asks Lim about it directly, and Lim asks “who told you?” And Muthu says

Ali and later Ali says you told him in the first place, Lim might want to kick you in your glu-

teus maximus.

BEST MAN‟S KITCHEN ( CHRISTMAS EDITION )

DATE : 3RD JANUARY 2009

VENUE : PADFAK HOSTEL

TIME : 11 AM TILL 1.30PM

TEAMS : BEST MEN, SANTA‟S LIL‟ HELPERS, GO

DON RAM_Z, F „N‟ B

CREW : JUDGES : NISHAN, NASHA, JOANNE,

SYAZWAN, CHONG

HYGIENE JUDGES : AREN, MITCHEL,

VINOD, ASHVIN

WINNER : GO DON RAM_Z

RUNNER UP : SANTA‟S LIL‟ HELPERS

WINNERS OF THE EVENT RECEIVED A TRO-

PHY ,MEDALS AND A FREE STALL IN THE

NEXT „JOM MAKAN-MAKAN‟. THE RUNNER UPS

RECEIVED MEDALS AND 50% OFF A STALL FOR

THE NEXT „JOM MAKAN-MAKAN‟.

NEW YEAR‟‟S TWISTED TELEMATCH

DATE : 4TH JANUARY 2009

VENUE : BIOPHYSICS SPORTZAL

TIME : 2PM TILL 5.30PM

TEAMS : 1- HALTOP

2- 3 PINKYS N 5 BRAINS

3- BUNGALOW

4- LOVE TO WIN

5- RAINBEEZ

6- SNOW WHITE

7- GYM_NAZ

8- KILLERS

9- KM 15

10- T N T

*EACH TEAM CONSISTS OF 8 MEMBERS

CREW : MAIN JUDGE : MEXMOLLEN MARCUS

REFEREES : KIRAN, ZAKRI, SHIRLEY, RAKESH,

KEN ZHEN, HAQIM,

NIZAM, JEYA, SAMMY, HELMY

MASCOT (SANTA CLAUSE) : ANEESH

WINNER : BUNGALOW

1ST RUNNER UP : 3 PINKYS N 5 BRAINS

2ND RUNNER UP : RAINBEEZ

WINNERS OF THE EVENT RECEIVED A TROPHY

AND MEDALS FOR EACH MEMBER.

RUNNER UPS OF THE EVENTS RECEIVED MED-

ALS FOR EACH MEMBER.