APSSEAR Outstanding Paediatrician for Asia 1997

On 23 March 1997 at the 9th Asian Congress of Paediatrics in Hong Kong, 10 paediatricians from twenty countries were honoured with the APSSEAR Outstanding Paediatrician for Asia Award. One of the ten was our own Dr Mohd Sham Kasim, the Senior Consultant and Chief Paediatrician in the Ministry of Health. How well do we know this man who has achieved so much in the promotion of paediatrics both within and outside our borders?

Born on 15 March 1944, Sham (as we all know him) lived his childhood exploring and enjoying the rural environment of his birth place, Kampung Mungkal in Negri Sembilan. He had his secondary education at the Royal Military College in Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur firom 1960 where he was first exposed to urban culture. This followed a second culture shock when he went to Sydney University in 1965 on a Colombo Plan Scholarship to study Medicine. He graduated with the MB, BS in 1971 and proceeded to work at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital.

In 1973, Sham joined the newly formed Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and was abruptly sent to the Royal Children's Hospital, Yorkhill, Glasgow on a British Council scholarship from 1973 to 1975. He obtained the Diploma in Child Health (DCH) in 1974 and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1975. In 1987, he became a Fellow of the same College. In 1978, he became a member of the Academy of Medicine, Malaysia and was conferred a Fellow of the same Academy in 1996.

While in UKM, he was appointed to the post of Deputy Dean between 1979 and 1982. He became an Associated Professor in 1980 and was Head of the Department of Paediatrics for two sessions from 1983 to 1985 and from 1988 to 1990. In 1989, he became the first local to be appointed Professor of Paediatrics.

It was during his days in UKM that he developed an interest in various aspects of social issues in paediatrics, starting with the plight of the Orang Asli and proceeding on to child abuse and neglect. He has also taught, counselled and seen hundreds of medical students who were frequently invited to his house for meals after each posting. He was in a group of a handful of senior lecturers who saw a need to conduct our own training programme and examination style to cater to our own needs. Being a member of the Postgraduate Committee, he was in the group which started the Master of Medicine (Paediatrics) Training Programme. As a member of the Ministry of Health's Code of Ethics Committee on Infant Formula Products from 1980 and the Ministry of Social Welfare Services' Nursery Care Act Formulation Committee, he strongly voiced support and encouragement for full breast feeding.

In the MPA, Sham became a member in 1978. He was elected Honorary Secretary 1979-81 and served as Vice President 1982-84 and as President in two sessions (1984-85 and 1987-88). In 1991, when nobody wanted to be the Honorary Secretary~ he volunteered his services. When Malaysia hosted the Fifth Asian Congress of Paediatrics in August 1985, Sham was the Honorary General Secretary. He chaired the 10th International Congress of Child Abuse and Neglect in Kuala Lumpur in 1994. He has chaired 11 other conferences, initiated and been involved in the organisation of numerous others. He is Vice-President of the Malaysian Council of Child Welfare from 1982, a base from which he has organised many workshops and conferences. In the international arena, he served as President of the ASEAN Paediatric Federation 1990-92, President of the International Society of Tropical Paediatrics 1996-99 and President-Elect of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN) 1996-98. He will be President of the latter from 1998 to the beginning of the next century.

He took over as editor of the Malaysian Journal of Child Health in 1993 and has consistently managed to publish two issues per year. He has 40 publications to his credit and many more other abstracts presented in international and locally organised conferences.

As a person, we all know Sham as a jovial man who has the tenacity, diplomacy and stamina to pursue a vision despite all odds. The man with the easy style and smile, and an infectious laugh was once described by Datuk Dr Sam Abraham as the man least likely to get a heart attack!" Although some may think of Sham's working style as unconventional, he has managed to strike an even balance between all his activities and his family by getting all of them involved in the things he does. Being the Chief Paediatrician in the Ministry of Health since 1991, he has not forgotten his roots and the people who inspired him in the early beginnings, especially Dr H K Virik and Datin Dr Rebecca George.