KUALA LUMPUR - The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah today conferred the honorary fellowship of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (AMM) on the Prime Minister’s wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The ceremony was held at the 56th Malaysia-Singapore Congress of Medicine in conjunction with MyWoman International Congress 2023 which was declared opened by Sultan Nazrin here today.
During the event, Sultan Nazrin handed over the conferment certificate to the former Deputy Prime Minister.
Later Dr Wan Azizah in her 24th Tun Ismail Oration titled Post Covid-19: Mental Health Among Women in Malaysia said, the Malaysian Mental Health Association report released in Oct 2020 stated that incidents of mental illness among Malaysians increased by two folds during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
"It is estimated that only 20 per cent of Malaysians with mental disorders have access to professional care due to social stigma,” said the 71-year-old ophthalmologist by training.
According to Dr Wan Azizah who is also Bandar Tun Razak MP, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness caused these people to be marginalised in society and such a scenario can lead to harm.
She also expressed her surprise to see reports about some very famous people taking their own lives.
"We think they are so successful and yet there is something wrong that actually was kept under the carpet and we don't want to come to that state,” she said.
Dr Wan Azizah also strongly urged everybody to help promote all available services that provide emotional psychological support and counselling such as Talian Kasih 15999 and Talian Heal 15555.
She said Talian Kasih now has Whatsapp services to help those who cannot speak and hear.
She said Covid-19 has caused more mental burden on women as women made up 99 per cent of Talian Kasih clients and 71 per cent of Talian Heal callers.
Dr Wan Azizah also shared her personal experience of having to quit as a doctor, changes that she went through from a wife of a deputy prime minister to a wife of an accused and entering politics unplanned.
"It took a lot of mental strength to continue...I was not prepared to face midlife (challenges), early menopause and a change of career.
"I did not want to become a politician yet it was forced on me so I had to learn very fast,” she said.
She also advised young doctors who heal others as physicians, to be able to heal themselves in any situation first.
"Heal yourself than you can heal others insya-Allah,” said Dr Wan Azizah.
The event was co-organised by the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (AMM), the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists AMM and the Malaysian Menopause Society. - BERNAMA