Jointly organised by MIMS and University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), this run was open to all healthcare professionals; aside from physicians, attendees also consisted of pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses and students of various medical disciplines. The event saw a great turnout of more than 500 participants – twice as many as those who turned up for 2014’s HCP Run!

Speaking about the event, Professor Dato’ Mohd Amin Jalaludin, Vice-chancellor of University of Malaya, said, “It’s awesome to have activities like this, especially on a Sunday morning as it helps keep everybody in good health.” He also emphasized how HCPs need to be fit themselves before advising their patients to lead healthy lives. “I’d like to see this become an annual event, and perhaps someday, a national event.”

Another dignitary at the event who stressed the importance of health promotion among HCPs was Professor Tunku Kamarul Zaman Tunku Zainol Abidin, Director of UMMC. “UMMC has begun a healthy lifestyle programme whereby the staff undergoes a full hour of exercise every Tuesday and Friday. We go in stages – first, the top management; this will be followed by the middle management and later, the general staff,” he explained. Another lifestyle modification aspect on his mind was the diet of HCPs. “All food [served to and eaten by UMMC’s HCPs] must be nutritious. We will have dietitians counting calories for them.”

Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Dean of UM’s Faculty of Medicine felt that the HCP Run was a success and thanked Dr Nahar Azmi Mohamed, Head of UMMC’s Sports Medicine Unit, for his contributions to the run which included organising duties and leading participants in a warm-up session. She said of the run, “We’ve to lead by example [and in the case of the run] we want to see it grow.” Her health promotion efforts included starting a weekly walk around the UM campus for students and her faculty’s staff.

Participants could choose from three categories – 5 km fun run, 10 km and 15 km – depending on their fitness levels. Prizes were awarded to each of the top four runners of the 10 km and 15 km categories whereas all fun run participants received medals for their participation. Proceeds were channeled to the UMMC-Exercise Support Group (UMMC-ESG) for cancer survivors and UMMC’s paediatric cardiology clinic. All in all, the HCP Run 2015 was a success as it brought together healthcare professionals from all fields for a good cause: health promotion!

If you like this article, do subscribe here.