Dr Tan's original guidelines for managing paediatric cases (red) has now been updated several times and is now the Paediatric Protocols for Malaysian Hospitals — ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
Dr Tan Poh Tin is a true blue anak Sarawak.
The paediatrician and public health consultant has spent her whole career serving different hospitals in her beloved state.
Both Dr Tan’s parents were migrants from China, who got married in Kuching during the Japanese Occupation.
Dr Tan is the fifth of their 10 children.
Together with other relatives, they lived above a sundry shop run by her maternal grandfather.
“My father worked in the shop and earned RM250 a month.
“With so many mouths to feed, I was malnourished, and we often ate only porridge mixed with oil and soy sauce.
“It wasn’t until I was 12 that our family moved out to a low-cost, one-bedroom flat, which we rented from the local council for RM50 monthly,” she shares.
She and her siblings would take turns to use the kitchen and sewing machine tables to study.
Or they’d be sprawled on the floor.
They would also sew their own clothes or wear hand-me-downs.
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As the district medical officer in Kapit, Dr Tan had to fly frequently on the Flying Doctor Service to deliver healthcare services to difficult-to-reach communities such as the Punans. The healthcare team will consist of a doctor, a medical assistant and two midwives or community nurses.
A bright kid, the pint-sized Dr Tan always topped her class and excelled in sports.
Even before she sat for the Malaysian Higher School Certificate (HSC, now STPM) exams, she was awarded the Colombo Plan scholarship to study medicine in Canada, together with four other students from Sarawak.
While waiting for the exam results, Dr Tan spent six months volunteering at two remote maternal and child health clinics in Benuk and Mentu, run by the Sarawak Anglican Church.
She recalls: “That changed my outlook of Sarawak – we also grew up in poverty, but here, there was no electricity, piped water or toilets, and the villagers faced plenty of hardship to get medical treatment.
“We used pressure lamps to deliver babies and I had to learn the Iban language because that was the only way to communicate.
“Shy, curious children would come during the breaks to watch us, because back then, ethnic Chinese and white women were rare in the rural areas.”
Although Dr Tan had scored straight As in the HSC when the results were announced, the Colombo Plan scholarship was mysteriously withdrawn for all four Sarawakian students with no reason given.
However, the Public Service Department (JPA) subsequently reached out to them to attend a scholarship interview.
Alas, Dr Tan was uncontactable in remote Mentu.
“JPA blasted the message out on public radio, someone heard it and eventually relayed the message to me.
“I found my way back to Kuching after a day and attended the interview,” she shares.
She was offered a place to study medicine in Universiti Malaya on a full scholarship, flying on an aeroplane for the first time to get there.
“After graduation, all of us Sarawakians returned to our home state to do our housemanship, and so, eight of us (plus one west Malaysian whose girlfriend was Sarawakian) in my batch got posted to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH),” she says.
From adults to children
Due to the shortage of specialists, all medical officers and housemen were trained to perform caesarean sections, appendectomies, and many other surgical, orthopaedic and obstetric emergency treatments, prior to their postings in district hospitals.
Dr Tan served in several district hospitals – which further opened her eyes to the pressing needs of the rural communities – before rising up the ranks to become the first female department head in Kapit Division.
After an enriching career that ranged from facing the logistical challenges of getting to patients in interior areas and frequent trips on the Flying Doctor Service, to attending many emergencies with limited resources, including once having to donate her own blood to save a native patient, Dr Tan decided she had enough of public health.
“I was tired of managing adults. In 10 years, I had not read any medical book because there was just no time!
“So, I decided to further my career in paediatrics as that was the area Sarawak needed help in.
“But JPA rejected my scholarship application – they said it was unrelated to my work [as a public health physician].
“Very mildly, they said I was suffering from a mid-life crisis at 35, and suggested I take a break and get married.”
Undeterred, Dr Tan managed to get a scholarship from Yayasan Tunku Abdul Rahman and was granted no-pay leave to pursue a parallel pathway programme in the United Kingdom.
When she returned in 1989, she was posted back to SGH.
“Back then, there were only two paediatricians covering 19 hospitals in the state – I was in Kuching and Datuk Dr Amar Singh HSS was in Sibu.
“So we had to train medical officers, housemen and nurses on what to do for sick newborns and young children, or else, our phones would constantly be ringing off the hook.
“That’s when I decided to compile some notes in a handbook they could refer to for first-line treatment before calling the specialists,” she says.
At that time, Dr Tan was supervising four medical officers who were sitting for the second part of their specialist programme and they’d meet daily to discuss various child health topics.
“We covered all the topics young doctors in the district would have to deal with and I’d jot down notes on something new they had researched,” she shares.
All these “bread and butter” notes – titled Guidelines for the Management of Paediatric Cases – were typed up, stapled, photocopied and sent to all Sarawak hospitals with paediatric wards in 1992.
Today, this manual is the standard paediatrics reference for all house officers and medical officers in the country.
Renamed Paediatric Protocols for Malaysian Hospitals, it has been updated four times, with the latest edition printed in 2019.
Giving back to society
Here's Dr Tan in one of her volunteer medical missions after the tsunami in Aceh. Children everywhere are still full of hope and fun, she says.
In 1995, Dr Tan, who is single, once again decided to change trajectories and go into teaching future doctors.
She accepted the position as head of the clinical sciences (medical) programme at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), helping the institution to set up their medical programme as one of the pioneer faculty members.
But just before the first batch of students graduated, she opted for early retirement in 2000 and went back to clinical practice in Kuching – this time in the private sector.
Dr Tan’s list of achievements is endless: she has sat (and sits) on many professional boards, contributed articles to the media, and even ran a radio chat show for nine years – all to share healthcare information with the public, especially Sarawakians.
Volunteering for medical missions is another of her passions.
In fact, on a trip to Afghanistan in 2002, Dr Tan was so moved by her life-changing experience there that she penned her thoughts on paper, which was accepted for publication in the Reader’s Digest.
She wrote: “I was a doctor giving medical relief to remote villagers in Afghanistan, but how could I treat the terrible wounds inflicted on their souls?”
Grateful for the initial scholarship that enabled her medical journey, Dr Tan, along with a group of fellow doctors, donated personal funds to start the Kenyalang Medical Foundation in 2001.
This foundation offers scholarships to poor Sarawakian undergraduates to pursue medicine.
Out of the 23 recipients, 19 have graduated so far.
She says: “If not for the JPA scholarship, I would not have had the opportunity to study because we had no money. That’s why I want to give back.”
Not one to sit idle, Dr Tan continues to work half-a-day at her clinic, despite being in her 70s.
“It’s such a privilege to have patients come to me as they respect my skill.
“I always tell junior doctors not to judge or turn away patients based on their looks, attire or smell, because you don’t know how far these villagers had to travel to get treatment.
“This is my last phase after 48 years in medical practice.
“I hope to go on more voluntary missions and continue my passion for drumming, singing and belly-dancing to keep my brain going!” she concludes.
