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Tuesday April 7, 2009

Dr Amin, a professional and a true friend in need


THE death of Dr Amin Tai Abdullah and Dr Haliza Mohd Shafie came as a shock to us, a group of friends who knew them well and had been climbing with them for years.

We were planning a trip to the Lost World of Maliau Basin in Sabah this May. Amin as usual was making his preparations for the climb. He had reminded the team that the trek wouldn’t be easy; with a height of 1,500m to trek.

In the past when we were heading to places like Kilimanjaro, Annapurna and Everest base camps in Nepal, we would go for local preparatory treks in Gunung Datuk, Gunung Nong and Gunung Ledang.

Klangate in Melawati is also a favourate place to train because the place is near and one could complete the trek up and down within two hours. We often joked that we could go up Klangate to see the sunrise at 7am and be in Kuala Lumpur for nasi lemak at 9am. Some parts of Klangate hill has poor telephone reception so sometimes when we are not on call in the hospital, the phones would be left in the car.

One doesn’t need any climbing gear up Klangate hills. Some areas are steep but have ropes in place to help climbers. The most important part of the trek is to go with experienced trekkers and be physically fit.

Amin had been in our trekking team for many years. He was always the organised, careful type with attention to details. He was often the leader and always the pillar of the team; reminding every member of their training, clothing, climbing gears and vaccination etc. The finest quality of all is his caring attitude; always putting others before himself.

When we were up in Kilimanjaro in Tanzania many years ago, a Danish lady doctor in our team was down with severe mountain sickness and had incessant vomiting. While many of us were tired, cold and wrapped up in our tents, Amin walked over to her tent and handed her a cup of warm tea and some medicine and kept her company and encouraged her. Dr Wit recovered, persisted and made the whole journey to Uhuru peak!

That was Amin. A member of Mercy Malaysia, he was the one who would put his private practice aside at short notice and volunteer for any humanitarian aid missions locally and overseas.

He had served in Cambodia, Indonesia and Kosovo even at times when his safety was in peril. To be able to achieve all these, he had a great wife and family who would support him all the way

Not many people realised that Amin was one of the great surgeon in our surgical circle. When we encountered difficult cases, his help is sought after and he would, at any time of the day, offer his expertise, even for free. His expertise was well recognised and he was a member of the liver transplant based in Singapore.

Recently many of our universities were plaqued with resignations of surgical specialists. The Department of Surgery in UPM was badly affected too. Amin volunteered his service as an honourary lecturer and had been actively teaching the medical students for the past two years.

Dr Haliza and her husband Ridzwan trekked with us in Sikkim three or four years ago. Despite her lack of trekking experience, she was never one to give up easily. While I don’t know her that well, her caring attitude and bubbly magnetism impressed me. I have no doubt children and mothers would trust her and love her. The net is full of testimonies for her.

DR LIEW NGOH CHIN & TEAM,

Kuala Lumpur.

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