KOTA KINABALU, 21 July 2023 – Medical Director, YBhg Major General Dato’ Pahlawan (Dr) Mohd Ghazalli bin Mohd Taha has completed the Closing Ceremony of the Submarine Medicine Masterclass Course. This course was conducted from 17 to 21 July 23 organized by the Submarine Training Center together with the Kota Kinabalu Regional Military Hospital.

This course, which was organized for the first time, was attended by 10 MAF Diving Medical Officers in order to provide basic exposure to all course participants regarding the risks and diseases associated with submarine crews. Apart from that, it also serves as a platform for these submarine medical officers to get to know more about the uniqueness of the submarine medical subject.

This course consists of three main components. The first component is an introductory component to submarines where medical officers will become more familiar with the background of submarines, submarine infrastructure and submarine operations in the world and Malaysia. Next, the component about submarine rescue systems, namely Submarine Escape and Rescue (SMER). This component is very helpful for submarine medical officers to be better prepared to receive and treat submarine crews that are successfully rescued through Submarine Rescue or Submarine Escape during submarine search operations. The last component is the medical aspect of the submarine. This component explains the diseases that are synonymous with a submarine crew and how to deal with the diseases experienced by the submarine crew.

In addition, this course also gives submarine medical officers the opportunity to visit KD Tun Abdul Razak’s submarine and this visit was conducted by Kdr Muad’z Bin Isa RMN, KD Tun Abdul Razak’s Executive Officer. Next, YBhg Medical Director, Major General Dato’ Pahlawan (Dr) Mohd Ghazalli bin Mohd Taha and the participants also had the opportunity to visit the Mother Ship for Submarine Escape and Rescue Intervention (SMER-i) MV Mega Bakti to get to know the system on MV Mega Bakti and visit the first Level One Hopsital on a Malaysian ship.

The director of this course is Brig Gen (Dr) Andrew Ng Wei Aun, Head of MAF Underwater and Hyperbaric Medical Services and coordinated by Capt (Dr) Dasinen A/L Thiagarajan, Submarine Medical Officer, Submarine Command Headquarters. The teaching staff of the course consists of P/Col (Dr) Faizul Islam bin Mohd Nordin, Kdr Muad’z bin Isa TLDM, Maj (Dr) Wan Mohd Muizzudin bin Mohd Nordin, Maj (Dr) Muhammad Azrul bin Zakaria, Maj (Dr) Nurul Sakinah binti Mohd Nor and PW I Almudi bin Eskal.

Finally, many thanks to all parties involved and making this course a success.