The state-of-the-art facility,
which will be located at the new National Cancer Centre at the Jerudong Park
Medical Centre (JPMC) upon building completion, will entail using
rehabilitation medicine to get people with disabilities back to their
lifestyles.
A national rehabilitation
programme, which will be needed to help discharge patients from hospitals
earlier, will need the collaboration between the Ministry of Health, Universiti
Brunei Darussalam (UBD), the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital
, the JPMC and other hospitals and centres in the community.
The introduction of
rehabilitation medicine comes following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
which was recently inked between the University of Michigan, United States of
America and the JPMC.
Professor Andrew J Haig at the
University of Michigan Health System told local media yesterday that although
they will be bringing in experts to work with local medical professionals and
rehabilitation medicine, this will be a Bruneian-driven project.
"Rehabilitation medicine is
a specialty that works with teams of physiotherapists, occupational, nursing
and speech therapists. Brunei does not have that right now, so a lot of people
with (disabilities) that have a lot to offer the community are stored in a room
upstairs, rather than becoming businessmen and women," he said.
Professor Haig, who is also a
specialist in the medical and rehabilitation field, said that within the next
few months, they are going to be looking into programmes for patients with back
pain and cancer survivors.
"As we build a bigger cadre
of expert therapists here, and as the American doctors start working with the
Bruneian doctors, we can start working and collaborating with colleagues at
RIPAS and in the community to build programmes that take care of acute trauma
patients, people with disabilities and those who had endured major
surgery," he said.
He noted that a few medical
practitioners will be going to Michigan for training, and hoped they would
become specialists.
"This will be a huge commitment
entailing four years of training, most of which will happen in Brunei. We are
very excited to have some people spend a few months in Michigan and work in
Brunei. We will have exchanges back and forth in all kinds of different
ways," Professor Haig said.
The JPMC's Head of Department of
Rehabilitation Vivian Tie said: "I think it is wonderful to actually have
something like this happen here in Brunei. It brings a lot of opportunities to
all the therapists and doctors. The greatest positive thing is for the people
of Brunei (who will benefit from the rehabilitation treatment)."
The department head said 17 per
cent of the Bruneian population has one kind of disability or another.
"That is a lot and if we
don't have a rehabilitation programme, these people are not getting enough
care."
She noted the national programme
and centre is of national interest as it will be providing treatment for the
people.
Professor Haig also said the national
rehabilitation centre will become an academic resource for the region, and
anticipates that Brunei will become an academic powerhouse.
"With the leadership of the
Ministry of Health and with the doctors and nurses I have seen, I think within
the next four to five years, Brunei will become an academic powerhouse,"
he said.
He added the programme will
succeed once they are able to send back a patient with spinal-cord injury from
Kampong Ayer back home.
The specialist said this meant
the person will be able to transport himself in and out of the water village,
and carry on with his daily life, instead of just staying at home.
The University of Michigan has
also signed a MoU with UBD in areas such as health, business and education.
The Brunei Times
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