KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Sports Institute (ISN) today signed a memorandum of understanding to seal cooperation towards enhancing the quality of sports medicine.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah signed on behalf of MOH, while ISN by its chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli.
MOH and ISN, in a joint statement today, said they had carried out a number of direct and indirect collaborations previously, and the signing of the MoU is expected to strengthen their collaboration in sports medicine, in terms of services, training, research and publication.
“It will spur the country’s efforts to improve and maintain the health of the society and change the country’s health landscape from ‘sick care’ to ‘health care’.
“The empowerment of sports medicine will also able to reduce the cost of treating non-communicable and infectious diseases, thereby improving the quality of life of the people and the productivity of the country as well as improving the progress of the country’s sports,” read the statement.
According to the statement, one of the aspects of cooperation that will be focused on is sports science clinical services and the referral of identified clients between MOH and ISN based on locality, facilities and the presence of current sports medicine specialists.
This includes strengthening the involvement and role of ISN and MOH as the main reference source in the field of sports medicine in any activity, event, competition or sports tournament, it said.
Both parties also hoped that the signing of the MoU would help to improve the skills and experience of sports medicine specialists, reduce treatment costs through the sharing of medical equipment and technology, and facilitate the referral of patients who need services in certain medical and sports science specialties.
The MOH and ISN will also serve as reference and training centres for major sports medicine and through research and publication collaboration, both parties will intensify the sharing of research expertise for the purpose of developing medicine and sports science.
This includes any research in the field of medicine and sports science, access to data, interests in intellectual property rights and publication of research results or presentations at the international level by mutual agreement, it said.
The MOH and ISN hoped that more citizens will be involved in sports and physical activities regularly and consistently, inculcating healthy living practices and further realising the country’s aspirations to improve the health of Malaysians.
