A Donation Drive to Build a Lecture Hall for Master in Parasitology and Entomology – Dewan CP Ramachandran

We are delighted to share with you an incredible long overdue achievement of our Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya

Department of Parasitology

The Department of Parasitology, at the Faculty of Medicine, is as old as the premier and prestigious University Malaya, the department is located. Over the years the department has unleashed thousands of post-graduate students, over and above the training conferred to students by the expected medical and bio-medical programs by very high calibre and distinguished Parasitologists. We are also pleased to inform that over the years the Department has been consistently ranked among the top five departments for research and innovation.

Going beyond academic obligations

The Department’s compassion for contribution has generated workshops and meetings with private and public stakeholders to enhance better empowerment of preventive measures to prevent diseases like dengue and malaria in the community. We took a leap forward to standardize the Parasitology curriculum by inviting all institutes of higher learning in Malaysia. We have opened our doors to the differently-abled academic staff and research postgraduate students to the extent of providing wheelchair-access to its members in terms of laboratory space. It is of no wonder that we are ranked number 1 amongst all departments in the Faculty of Medicine UM for social responsibility. Amongst the activities we support are:

1. Annual animal awareness symposium

2. Visits to shelters and orphanages for ectoparasite detection and donation of medication

3. Visits and advice to areas inundated by medically-important spider encroachment

4. Support for Malaysia Neural Tube Defect (a support group for families for spina bifida)

5. Workshops with Ministry of Unity to organise dengue prevention workshop with Rukun Tetangga leaders

6. Workshops with all institutions of higher learning for the standardization of the Parasitology curriculum

7. Collaborations with Ministry of Health in control and prevention of malaria and dengue

Our latest achievement which we would like to share is based on the following facts: -

Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds, about 3000 children every day. Over one million people die from malaria each year, mostly children under five years of age, with 90 per cent of malaria cases occurring in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of death among children under five globally. More than one in ten child deaths – about 800 000 each year – is due to diarrhoea.

New master course: Master in Parasitology and Entomology

Assessing the global parasitological situation, our concern extended beyond the corridors of our usual expectations of research and teaching and unleash for the first time, Asia’s first affordable World Class Parasitology curriculum titled Master in Parasitology and Entomology. This is a one-year course to commence from September 2021 which will be offered to all international students. It is our hope that by imparting the latest and cutting-edge facts on Parasitology and Entomology to our global students who will then contribute back to their respective nations. This one-year course will position both Universiti Malaya and Malaysia in the frontiers of international research and collaborations.

The challenge

Our euphoria to contribute to this global change lifted us to the highest point of joy, only to come crashing down when we realised that our department to accommodate this much needed international program, would need a comfortable and a modest lecture hall to accommodate lectures and discussion for this program. Days are nearing for the course to create this dream of ours but the current financial slow down due to many reasons including the Covid19 pandemic limits our dream from being actualized. Hence we are forced to seek funding from other sources. Currently, there are two small seminar rooms in the department which are also used as meeting rooms. We are currently running MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery), Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences, Bachelors in Pharmacy, Diploma and Bachelor in Nursing and an Elective course using these rooms.

The cost

A sum of RM300k is needed for the following:

a) Expand two of our existing rooms by breaking down the walls in between (see photos)

b) Build a lecture hall with proper facilities and seating reconfigurable furniture arrangements which allow individuals to move around freely

c) Raised platform for projection

d) Accompanying renovation of glass windows and doors

e) Painting

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Dewan CP Ramachandran

It is proposed that this hall be called Dewan CP Ramachandran.

Prof Emeritus Dato CP Ramachandran, a distinguished Professor who once walked along the corridors of our Department of Parasitology, among his endless accolades, was a founder member of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM) in 1964 who later became the President of the society in 1973, 2000 and 2001. He was the first recipient of the Sandosham Medal awarded by the MSPTM in 1974. The Dewan is to be proposed to be in his name in order to inspire our students to also sacrifice and grow like Prof CP. His humble beginning from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine as a demonstrator in Parasitology from 1952 to June 1962 to an active researcher at the Institute for Medical Research from 1962-1963 and then as an administrator as Head of Filariasis, IMR from 1967-1970. From Assistant Professor in Medical Parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya in 1963 to a Professor of Parasitology and a Dean of the School of Biological Sciences at University Sains Malaysia from 1970. It is however when Prof CP took the world stage when he joined the World Health Organization and rose to the ranks of Chief of Filariasis Control and TDR in WHO, that he spread the fragrance of Malaysia globally becoming a major force in the eradication of global filariasis. He was responsible for the establishment of Centres of Excellence of Tropical Diseases in many developing countries of South America, Africa Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Region. CP can be considered as the Father of Filariasis. He retired from WHO in 1996 and in the same year joined University Putra Malaysia as Professor of Parasitology. Prof CP had three parasites named after him. He received many awards i.e. Mary Kingsley Medal, United Kingdom for Tropical Medicine. He was a Fellow of the Academy of Science since 2003.

This Dewan will house international and national students who will be inspired to return and the name of Dewan CP will hopefully resonate the ideals on how Prof CP lived. Live to the fullest and be an active contributor and in this case to the field of Medical Parasitology and Entomology. We hope that our students when they reach their shores after the training will be as prolific as Prof CP and publish numerous scientific papers.

Our earnest request

In this dire time filled with constraints it would be a challenge to seek your financial assistance. But we need to! Any amount to materialize Dewan CP Ramachandran – a space that will flower the potentials of seeds we are planting for Parasitology and Entomology in students globally which we are confident will grow into giant trees that will benefit many nations.

Help us to Help them!

How to donate

Online/bank transfer/cheque deposit to:

Account name: BENDAHARI UNIVERSITI MALAYA

Account number: 8001279998

Bank name: CIMB BANK BERHAD

Bank Address: CIMB KL Gateway, LG 2.01 KL Gateway Mall 2, Jalan Kerinchi, Gerbang Kerinchi Lestari, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Swift Code: CIBBMYKL

IBAN#: N/A

Currency: Ringgit Malaysia (RM)

Direct payment link: https://epay.um.edu.my/payment/pay/1088

The donor must provide cash transfer slip/cheque deposit machine slip/online payment slip to Prof Lau Yee Ling, Head of Department of Parasitology through [email protected] within 7 days after transaction.

Tax deduction

· Tax deduction limited to 10% (individuals & companies) from aggregative income.

· UM will approve the received funding and release the receipt of tax reduction to be included in the annual tax assessment to LHDN.

· We need to have your full name/company name, your Malaysian Identity Card number/ company registration number (as required to be written on the tax-exempt receipt), and mailing address to post the receipt to.

· You should receive your receipt of tax reduction within 1-2 months.

· We will issue the receipt as per transaction date within the same calendar year.

If you can’t give, but still want to support our course, please share our page/email with your friends, family and colleagues. With more people aware of our cause, we will be one step closer to reaching our goal. Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information.

Yours sincerely

Professor Dr Lau Yee Ling

Head

Department of Parasitology,

Faculty of Medicine,

Universiti Malaya,

50603 Kuala Lumpur.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 03-79674749/0126060939

Website: medicine.um.edu.my/parasitology-department