ECP President’s Message – October 2013

Date: 28 October 2013

Dear colleagues, Welcome to the Early Career Psychiatrist Subsection of MPA. The new committee feels honoured and moved to be given the mandate and trust to helm ECP. We call for all recently graduated psychiatrists (read: 5 years and below or less than 40 years old!) all over the country, far and near to come together and make ECP the most happening place to be associated with. We also encourage post graduate students to be part of our family. We believe that ECP can be the platform for our voice to be heard and our issues to be addressed. No one will be left alone to fight the battle because the battle is our battle. The landscape of psychiatric services in Malaysia has changed. Issues on mental health and mental illness have become very important. Malaysians are more aware about their own mental health needs in the face of modern world adversities. Therefore, more people willingly come forward to seek psychiatrists and have their mental health issues dealt with if not treated. Our role as psychiatrists has become more challenging now. Apart from treating people with mental illness, we are also responsible to keep the public well informed about mental health and mental illness; and issues that come in between such as recovery, rehabilitation and more importantly; stigma. To provide and achieve an excellent psychiatric and mental health services in this country addressing above matters, is in need of psychiatrists not only comprehensively equipped with fine clinical skills, but also with outstanding leadership and managerial skills. While academic training strives to achieve the first characteristic of that good psychiatrist; leadership & managerial training are now considered to be extremely necessary, if not mandatory, in order to fulfill the criteria of a first-class psychiatrist in Malaysia. I personally believe we are capable in doing so. So people, start writing to us. We are here and lets our (read: us) presence felt. We can make the difference! Dr Johari Khamis