The PMPS (Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society)

The PMPS (Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society) was founded in 1932 to represent local medical doctors in their dealing with bureaucracy of the ruling colonial government. This idea was establish by a small group of private practitioners where they want to increase the social venue among doctors and one of them was Dr.Lim Swee Leong, the former president of PMPS in 1934. At the time of the formation of the society, Mr A.M. Goodman, Resident Councillor of Penang, former Chinese Affairs Secretory in Singapore was a very important figure as he started trying to get the doctors to come together to form a group whom he could sound for their views. He respected the medical community, and eventually for their services, private practitioner were rewarded by the government. The medical establishment in Penang in 1932 comprised of doctors working in the government service who were almost exclusively British, and a number of private practitioner. Such a group of eighteen private practitioners converged on May 27th of that year at 337 Anson Road for a meeting which was convened by Dr J Emile Smith, a Malayan general practitioners and leader of the Eurasian community. At the meeting, it was unanimously agreed to form a society to be styled The Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society. The objective of PMPS is for the social interaction among doctors together in regulate the practice of medicine and to put up a more united forum to the government for any assistance that they might have needed.

The biggest historical milestone for the medical community in Penang was the Golden Jubilee, a grand dinner that held at the Penang Club on 30th May 1982 to celebrate the golden jubilee of the founding of the PMPS, it was indeed a watershed in the history. It was a nostalgic occasion, made more poignant and significant with the special appearance of Dr Lim Poh Thye and Dr. Charan Singh who were among the 17 Founder Members of the society way back in 1932. Since the society function almost entirely as a social club, Dato’ Dr V. Thuraisingham initiated more medical educational activities such as public seminar, professional talks, charitable activities and many more to increase the enrolment of members of public. The PMPS has become increasingly involved in the educational activities for the medical fraternity in Penang. The PMPS through committee members Chan Kok Ewe and Ong Hean Teik made a presentation to the Chief Minister Dr. Koh Tsu Khoon on the urgent need for a training medical institution to be set up on the island after University Sains Malaysia was transferred to Kelantan. Subsequently, the government strongly supported the project called the twinning medical curriculum with clinical training locally done in Penang which was presented by Dr Godfrey Geh from Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. Since the mid-1980s, the PMPS has been organizing continuing professional development (CPD) programs and courses regularly and book publication is another area the PMPS is active.

PMPS came into existence in 1932. Past leaders leading the society have been quite frugal and had managed to accumulate up to a tune of RM900 000 by 2002. It had been the dream of all PMPS members to own a building, call the “PMPS House” and was finally conceptualized in the year 2002. PMPS building now sits on a precious piece of land which is easily worth RM7 million.

Recent achievements by PMPS

Academic

PMPS is actively involved in organizing courses such as the O&G updates and ultrasound workshop, Surgical and Orthopaedics courses and workshop, Wound Care Management Conference and the Occupational Health Seminar Northern Region. Working with the MMA and Koperasi Doktor Pulau Pinang Berhad ( KDPP), PMPS continue to host academic programs to provide continuing professional development (CPD) points for its members.

Sports

As part of promoting healthy life style among our members, PMPS organizes various annual sport events like tennis, badminton, running and golf. These events are well participated and prizes for the winners are given away during the annual dinner.

Community Service

PMPS play an active role to participate in the well being of the community by organizing medical camps for the underprivileged. Recently, we had provided support for the marginalized such as Rohingya community in Penang.

Members

Currently, there are 531 members in the PMPS. Through the Federation of the Private Medical Practitioner Association Malaysia (FPMPAM) and the Joint Integrated Health care committee ( JIHC), members have been provided possible advise and financial assistance for legal supports.

Social

The annual fellowship night with the members of the MMA council bring better relationship among the doctors in Penang and it is the biggest event of the year where all members look forward to let their hair down and enjoy themselves with friends and colleagues.

Family

The PMPS tries to organize a day or event where the members and their family could take part in various fun activities such as bowling or beach events.

Building

The PMPS management committee is in the process of trying to upgrade the PMPS property status from residential to commercial in the hope that it can be developed to bring in better profit to the society.

Koperasi Doktor Pulau Pinang ( KDPP)

This cooperation was set up as a brainchild of Dato’ Dr Sathish K. Shukla in 2016 and has taken off well so far. The members of this cooperative are made up of life members of PMPS. The Koperasi would enable its members of PMPS and enable its members to invest in Medical related ventures.