Health & Living

How Safe Are MRIs?

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recently, Keith McAllister, a 61 year-old man in the US, died after being sucked in by an MRI machine’s magnetic force. We explore the safety of usi...

Public Health: Health in Budget 2026 - Spending or Investment?

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Budget 2026 will be tabled in October, and if the discourse around healthcare financing and medical costs are anything to go by, all eyes will be on t...

Healthy Ageing: Is Urinary Incontinence Normal?

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Urinary incontinence may seem common among older adults, but is it a normal part of ageing? On this episode of Healthy Ageing, we speak to consultant ...

Mind Matters: When Name-Calling Among Kids Becomes Harmful

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us would remember being called names at least once in school. While many may think this is just kids being kids, it doesn’t feel great to be...

Autoimmune Diseases Are Often Diagnosed Too Late

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Autoimmune diseases don’t always arrive with a dramatic entrance. More often, they creep in with vague fatigue, nagging joint pain, or an unexplaine...

How Do We Treat Vaping Addiction in Kids

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve talked about the unchecked vaping crisis among kids and teenagers, and the need to put an end to it. But for those who are already addicted to...

Counsellor’s Corner: How To Be A Good Parent

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Licensed counsellor Heeran Kaur steps into the studio for Counsellor’s Corner, to answer questions from parents about the do’s and don’ts of par...

How To Effectively Prevent Heart Disease

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malaysia’s most recent death statistics from 2023 showed that ischaemic heart disease was the second leading cause of death. Unfortunately, we canno...

Humans of Healthcare: The (Academic) Nutritionist

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malaysians are often told that we don’t eat very healthy - and this is where nutritionists come in to help guide the population and policies towards...

How Doctors Can Pick Up Domestic Violence in Primary Care

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Primary care can play an important role in picking up cases of family or domestic violence early, but are our healthcare workers trained to do so and ...

We Have Better Treatment For Lung Cancer, But Is It Accessible?

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lung cancer is still one of the most common cancers in Malaysia and most of our lung cancer patients are still diagnosed in the late stages. In conjun...

Narcotics Anonymous: Staying Clean, One Day At A Time

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People with drug addiction or substance use disorder are often stigmatised and walk a long and lonely path towards recovery. We speak to Charles, Zam ...

Malaysia’s Progress in Treating Hepatitis C

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2017, Malaysia made headlines as the first country in the world to issue a government-use license to bypass the patent on a key hepatitis C drug—...

Ask A Doctor: Snoring (and Breathing)

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Snoring is disruptive and often dismissed as a normal bodily function but it can be a sign of a more serious health problem. On this episode of Ask A ...

NCD Chronicles #30: Living With A Smoking Addiction, Then Lung Cancer

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most smokers think that they’ll never get lung cancer - that it only happens to others and not them. That’s how Apparao Applanaidu used to think w...

Is Ceramic and “Non-Toxic” Cookware Safe?

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The rising popularity of ceramic cookware products has seen these colourful pots and pans become coveted products in kitchens today. The range of kitc...

Understanding Catastrophising and Dichotomous Thoughts in Autism

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Living in a neurotypical world, we have to deal with many grey areas, nuances and contextual situations. This can be challenging for children who are ...

When Treatments & Trials for Rare Disorders Exclude Malaysia

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

About 95% of rare disorders don’t have a treatment for it, and even in cases where treatment is available or a clinical trial is being conducted, no...

Because Feelings Matter #43: A 10-Year Dream of Motherhood

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Motherhood brings with it a complexity of mental health issues, but what about the period leading up to conceiving a baby? And what if it takes a woma...

Healthy Ageing: Breaking The Stigma on Dementia

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Stigma is one of the biggest barriers to people with dementia to continue living their lives with dignity and quality. In this episode of Healthy Agei...

Your Kidneys Can Be Damaged By Heat Exposure

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Extreme heat exposure can be deadly, and one of the ways that could happen is through kidney damage. It’s not a consequence of higher temperatures t...

Is Rakan KKM Privatisation of Healthcare?

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Ministry of Health is set to introduce the Rakan KKM some time this year, an initiative said to offer “premium economy” services to the public...

Strengthening Your Core Is More Than Just Your Abs

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When exercising, trainers and coaches often speak about the importance of strengthening your core - you might even have seen this on TikTok videos. Bu...

Mind Matters: Can We Improve Public Housing To Improve Public Health?

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While public housing in Malaysia aims to keep low-income communities out of slums, we’ve seen that it is not enough to merely provide a roof over th...

What Is Social Health Insurance And Will It Work For Malaysians

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Ministry of Health is planning to roll out social health insurance, in a bid to make healthcare - including private healthcare - more accessible t...

Heavy Vehicle Accidents Raise Concerns Over Head Trauma

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The recent spate of heavy vehicle accidents has raised concerns over the severity and long-term consequences of trauma injuries, particularly head tra...

Public Health: PERKESO As A Safety Net For Health

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re a salaried employee, your monthly payslip will state a small contribution to the Social Security Organization or PERKESO. Where do these f...

The Real Fertility Crisis Is When Couples Are Denied Choice

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We keep being told that there is a ‘fertility crisis’ as people continue to have fewer children or none at all. But is there really a crisis brewi...

It’s Time We Mandate Training Doctors & Nurses in Palliative Care

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Palliative care should be an important part of most healthcare workers’ training, because its goal is to alleviate suffering and improve the quality...

Counsellor’s Corner: Helping Students Cope With Academic Stress

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are students today under too much pressure, as academic demands increase? Or are young people today just less adept at dealing with stress? Licensed a...

What Happens When Doctors Use AI?

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can generative AI tools like ChatGPT improve workflow in clinics and hospitals, allowing doctors and nurses to focus on the most important areas of pa...

We Can Treat Obesity, But What About Stigma?

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2020, when Dr Ruben Ramakrishnan completed his Doctor of Public Health, it was the culmination of two journeys - one, his professional journey, and...

Humans of Healthcare: The Medical Social Worker

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you’re struck by an illness and require more support beyond just treating the symptoms or injury you have? That’s where medical ...

Earthquakes & Conflicts: Access to Safe Water in Myanmar

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every time you wash your hands or flush the toilet, do you think about what the world would look like if we couldn’t easily do any of those things? ...

NCD Chronicles #29: Surviving Nasopharyngeal Cancer

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is treatable, and even curable, when patients are diagnosed at the earlier stages. But the treatment journey can be long a...

Reading To Your Kids: Is It Passé?

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A survey in the UK shows that Gen Z parents find reading to their children boring. We speak to Dr Rajini Sarvananthan, Consultant Developmental Paedia...

Healthcare For Refugees: Going Beyond Charity

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Refugees in Malaysia live on the precipice of danger - fleeing persecution in their own country, while facing social and financial insecurity in a for...

Because Feelings Matter #42: What Does Complex PTSD Look Like?

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does a person with complex PTSD look like? Just like you and me, it turns out. Shane’s bubbly personality hides the scars of abuse, low self-es...

Is Gene Editing The Silver Bullet for Rare Disorders?

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time, doctors have treated a baby boy born with a rare genetic disorder with gene-editing treatment that was tailor-made for him. This h...

Erectile Dysfunction: Speak Up If You Can't Get It Up

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two in three Malaysian men above 40 are at risk of erectile dysfunction, but how many of them are open to talk about it, let alone seek medical help? ...

Healthy Ageing: Is Abandonment of Older Adults On The Rise?

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hospitals are where we go to when we’re ill or unwell, but what if it becomes the place where someone is abandoned? In conjunction with World Elder ...

How Will The SST Affect GPs?

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

General practitioners and the clinics they run in our communities are often the first point of contact for people when they fall ill. But many GPs hav...

Mind Matters: The SPM Leaver’s Dilemma

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After SPM, what next? This is a big question for young people, with concerns about what kind of higher education to pursue, juggling self and parental...

Brain Waves: Can Your Job Prevent Alzheimer’s?

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if your job could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease? A study done in the US found that for people who worked two very specific types of jo...

Will This Test Tell Me If I Have Cancer?

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve probably heard time and time again that it’s important to pick up cancers early, because it means your odds of surviving and living a good ...

Public Health: State Of Our Nation’s Nutrition

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2024 on Nutrition, our nutritional status is abysmal. And that’s bad news, considering we also...

Banning Vape Sales In States Is Only Step One

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As states around the country announce complete bans on vape shops - or at the very least, consider it - will this be too little, too late? What kind o...

Humans of Healthcare: The Respiratory Physician

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every breath you take fills your body with oxygen, which is vital for every cell in the body to get energy. When something disrupts your respiratory s...

Should We All Work Until 65?

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Following Law Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said’s suggestion to raise the retirement age to 65, the Ministry of Human Resources has confirmed ...

Specimens & Stories: Inside UM’s Medical Museum

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

University of Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine recently unveiled its Medical Museum, named in honour of Tan Sri Dr. Lim Wee Chai. We speak to Professor ...

Counsellor’s Corner: Parenting Stress

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In conjunction with Parent’s Day in June, our Counsellor’s Corner episode focuses on the struggles that parents face in juggling their responsibil...

Green-ing Healthcare For The Planet

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our healthcare system takes care of us when we’re ill, but the irony is that it’s also making our planet sick. Globally, the healthcare sector has...

Think Twice Before Diving Into That Sports Trend

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every time a new sports fad comes about, doctors and specialists brace themselves for a slew of new patients coming in with fresh aches and pains. We ...

How Vapes Are Appealing To (and Harming) Our Kids 

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bright colours, trendy designs, and cool flavours. E-cigarettes or vapes have been the new in-thing for a while, despite escalating warnings that they...

Can I Choke on This? Understanding the Risks & How To Prevent It 

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many of us would still remember the incident earlier this year where a young boy died after he choked on a round gummy sweet. That incident sparked aw...

NCD Chronicles #28: Beating The Odds With Ovarian Cancer

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors predicted she wouldn’t live past two years, but six years later, she’s still thriving. Hear Iren Lau’s journey of living with ovarian ca...

Because Feelings Matter #41: “I Always Knew My Mother Was Different”

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“I always knew you were different,” wrote Jian Goh in his comic book series ‘Once Upon a Miao’. He was referring to his mother, who had strugg...

Ask A Doctor: Women’s Sexual Health 

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Women’s sexual health is still considered a taboo subject in some segments of society despite how impactful it can be on women’s lives. On this ep...

What Does An Advanced Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Mean?

23 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Former US President Joe Biden has just been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that has spread to the bones. We get consultant urologist Dr Geo...

Understanding Play Therapy

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the difference between letting children play, and using play in therapy for emotional, behavioural, and psychological issues in young childre...

Mind Matters: Supporting People Living With Schizophrenia

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most common perceptions of people diagnosed with schizophrenia is that they tend to be violent. But how much of that is true and how much d...

Nudging Consumers To Make Healthier Grocery Choices

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you’re walking down the supermarket aisle, what drives you to decide what to buy? Are you ticking items off a list or being tempted by what’s...

It’s Ok To Go Low-Salt

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How much salt do you consume every day, and how much of that do you think comes from meals that you order or tah pau from coffeeshops and restaurants?...

How Pharmacists Can Help Lower Rising Healthcare Costs

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everything related to healthcare is becoming more expensive today, including medicines, hospital and clinic visits, and insurance premiums. What role ...

Shouldering the Pain: Knowing When The Pain Is Not Normal

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From badminton to swimming or lifting weights in the gym, most exercises require good shoulder strength and mobility. So what happens if you lose that...

Counsellor’s Corner: How To Handle Disagreements

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many problems in our personal and work relationships stem from conflict and disagreements that have been left unsaid. Licensed counsellor Heeran Kaur ...

Humans of Healthcare: The Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As part of Dr Siti Laura Mazalan’s job as a congenital and paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, she touches a tiny infant’s beating heart, handling ...

How Obesity Makes Pregnancy Dangerous

09 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Being obese increases your risk for various health complications, and that’s especially true - and more dangerous - when you’re pregnant and overw...

Public Health: How Will Malaysia Afford Aged Care?

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Once upon a time, growing old meant being surrounded by family members in a multigenerational home. Today, that family has shrunk, and growing old mig...

Do Performance-Enhancing Drugs Work And Are They Ever Safe?

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For some people, exercising may not lead to obvious results - at least not in the short-term and depending on how you’re working out. This means tha...

Childhood Asthma Is Still A Major Problem

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you think about chronic diseases, you may not think that children could be affected. But did you know that asthma is the most common chronic dise...

Healthy Ageing: Can The Shingles Vaccine Prevent Dementia?

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You might have seen recent headlines which say that the shingles vaccine can decrease the risk of dementia, but how does that work? On this episode of...

Private Healthcare Facilities Must Now Display Drug Prices

02 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Yesterday, the drug price display mandate came into force, which requires private health facilities such as private GPs and community pharmacies to ph...

Pioneering Advancements In Heart Failure Care

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to cardiovascular disease in our country, we are not only burdened by coronary artery disease, but also, increasingly, heart failure. As...

 Living With A Rare Disorder & Going Through Puberty

29 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Adolescence is already a challenging stage in life - for both parents and teens alike - but what happens when you throw in a rare disorder? We speak t...

NCD Chronicles #27: “Reborn” After A Liver Transplant

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For five long years, Farah Syahidah Shamsuddin was on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Her liver, damaged due to a congenital condition, was l...

Mental Health Support For Putra Heights Disaster

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since the gas pipeline explosion in Putra Heights, Selangor, on 1 April 2025, dozens of residents are still displaced, while hundreds of others are tr...

Is There An Autism “Epidemic” Due To Environmental Factors?

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, news headlines exploded when the US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr said that the significant and recent rise i...

Is There A Future for Vaccines?

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve often heard that vaccines save lives, but have we ever thought about what the world would look like without vaccines? While many have had a ne...

Because Feelings Matter #40: It’s Not About “Fixing” Autism

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you’re a mother of two girls with autism, you’ll do anything to support their development and ensure access to all the necessary intervention...

We’re Treating Cancer Differently Now

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cancer is a tumour in the body, a coalescence of mutated, malignant cells. But cancer is not the person. Someone diagnosed with cancer is more than ju...

Treating Dizziness And Vertigo

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you sometimes feel dizzy or off-balance? Does the room suddenly start spinning and you feel like throwing up? You shouldn’t brush off symptoms of...

Can You Biohack Your Way To A Better, Longer Life? 

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of biohacking has grown in popularity over the recent years, helped along by influencers and the wellness industry, who argue that this is th...

Ask A Doctor: Children’s Tummy Problems

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this month’s Ask A Doctor, we are addressing questions about children’s digestive issues, from colic to constipation, diarrhoea and dietary hab...

Mind Matters: When Mental Health Stigma Still Hurts

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gone are the days where mental health is spoken about in hushed tones - or are they? We talk about mental health much more openly today but that doesn...

When Faced With Autism, Parents Feel Lost

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you are a parent looking for answers about your child’s neurodivergent condition, the road can be a long and winding one. Whether you’re trying...

Humans of Healthcare: The Cancer Epidemiologist

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Epidemiologists play an important role in helping us understand how a disease occurs or spreads within a population. We speak to cancer epidemiologist...

Public Health: Sorry, Your Life-Saving Drug Is Beyond Our Budget

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re a patient at a government hospital or clinic, you probably don’t think twice about the medications you’re prescribed, though you’re ...

Healthy Ageing: Can A Blood Test Diagnose Alzheimer’s?

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can a single blood test detect Alzheimer’s disease and how far it has progressed? Scientists have been working to develop a blood test for Alzheimer...

Counsellor’s Corner: Forgive, But Can You Forget?

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 It’s all about forgiveness during the month of Syawal, but is kosong-kosong easier said than done? How do you learn to forgive others (and eve...

World Health Day: Healthy Beginnings

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every 2 minutes, one woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Every 7 seconds, a newborn baby dies. In essence, a life is cut short before it can even b...

TB Is Still A Threat

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 24th March in 1882, Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB. 143 years later, we’ve learned that we can prev...

Butter: To Eat or Not To Eat?

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is butter an artery-clogging food? Or is it actually a superfood? Butter has been both demonised and celebrated in the health space over the years. A ...

We Need More Seamless, Proactive Healthcare

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The way we seek healthcare today is reactive, and fragmented by disease and specialisation. We go to a doctor only when we have a serious health probl...

It’s Time We Redefine Obesity

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to be obese? We’re now slowly recognising that it’s not just a result of your lifestyle choices, but is a complex disease. Earli...

The Upside of Down Syndrome

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every year, World Down Syndrome Day is commemorated on 21st March, to signify the triplication of the 21st chromosome in people born with this conditi...

Hip And Knee Replacements: Fighting The Fear

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

According to a recent study by the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research (MELoR), almost one in three older adults has symptoms of knee osteoarthriti...

Because Feelings Matter #39: Rebuilding From A Toxic Life

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2007, Maisarah Sani was building a successful career in London. But at the same time, she was leading a double life, trapped in a toxic relationshi...

NCD Chronicles #26: I Had A Stroke At 33 Years Old

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Picture someone who had a stroke, and you’d probably think of someone older, past their 60s. But stroke can happen at any age. For younger stroke su...

Diet & Recovery After Colorectal Cancer

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer among Malaysians, but it’s often difficult and embarrassing to talk about even after treatment, e...