When Mr.Soovendran announced that a trip to the Kuala Lumpur Sports Medical Centre was going to be held and he wanted 5 volunteers from our class to attend the trip, it was almost an instinct to raise my hand. Honestly I was not keen on the idea of going to a sports medical centre because I thought everything there would be related to sports injuries being mainly bone related issues/cases which had nothing similar to my field of interest, which would be Obstetrics and Gynecology . Nevertheless, I did not want to lose the opportunity to learn something new, so I decided to just go with the flow.
We traveled from our college to KLSMC via a hired van and throughout the time we were heading to our destination, everyone had a set of questions to ask or certain expectations of the trip entirely mapped out in our heads. When we reached, I expected to be greeted with the familiar smell of Dettol or antiseptic detergent used to mop the floors with but it was quite the contrary, we were welcomed with warm smiles and laughter. We were escorted to a conference room where we sat through a presentation on Physiotherapy. I honestly think it was an eye opener to many of us there including myself.
I thought I knew what Physiotherapy was but after the detailed explanation given by the jovial physiotherapist, I understood that Physiotherapy itself is an incredibly wide topic to talk about. Who knew that a Physiotherapist could help a person’s brain that has forgotten how to move certain parts of the body for example: the right hand, by re-teaching different parts of that individual’s brain to carry out the similar function (to move the right hand). A Physiotherapist works very closely with the doctor who treated the patient to enable the patient to return to as close to normal as he/she could ever get in order to experience the quality of life.
We were given a tour of the entire building and at the same time the Physiotherapist was bombarded with questions. . Among the questions asked were:
1) Q) If a person were to lose a ligament in the Knee how much would it cost to replace it?
A) Around RM30,000 because the ligament would either have to be cultured or ordered.
A) Around RM30,000 because the ligament would either have to be cultured or ordered.
2) Q) How much would it cost for a person to be admitted into one of the wards here?
A) Usually our patients do not stay here for more than a few days.
One night in a single suite costs RM1000.
A) Usually our patients do not stay here for more than a few days.
One night in a single suite costs RM1000.
3) Q) How many years have you been a Physiotherapist?
A) Fifteen years.
4) Q) How is a patient to know whether the exercises he/she is doing for recovery is correct
when he/she is exercising alone?
A) We have rooms with mirrors where the Physiotherapist teaches the patient
what is right and wrong so that the patient is able to see and feel the differences.
5) Q) How does Hydrotherapy help a patient? Is it more efficient?
A) It isn’t necessarily more efficient, it helps the patient by lessening the forces acting on him/her.
We use buoyancy to help the patient who is undergoing post-surgical care so that he/she
is able to exercise.
We were shown the wards which are called suites in KLSMC because they really do look like 7-star labeled hotel suites. KLSMC is the most dazzling medical centre I have ever been to, literally. The wards have parquet floors, soft sofas, full Wifi coverage, flat screen plasma televisions and a huge bathroom. These may seem luxurious and I’m sure it is but it is to ensure that the patient and his/her family has full comfort. The services in KLSMC include Orthopedic surgery, Physiotherapy, MRI imaging and Hydrotherapy. Operations such as arthroscopic surgery and knee replacements are routinely performed.
They have two amazing MRI machines which costs millions. Apparently the old MRI imaging machine weighs 16 tonnes and they had to reinforce the floor multiple times to make sure it would be able to stand the weight of that one machine.
There are so many things about the services this medical centre provides which really thought us to expand our knowledge and not just stick to the things we know. This entire trip was the definition of amazing as it helped all of us gain knowledge in the field that we have a common passion about. The abundance of information given also thought us that we need to be more receptive to the situations/cases around us and we need to appreciate the quality of life for us to be able to treat a patient and restore the patient to as normal as possible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my lecturers and President College itself for organizing this trip and for giving us the opportunity to learn as much as we can. We really appreciate it.
