USM ‘FIRST BABY’ CELEBRATED: VC PRAISES THE QUICK ACTION OF SEJAHTERA CENTRE

PENANG, 13 Apr 2012: Nursyaza Syazwana Mohd. Sabri, 3 months, made history for Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) when she became the first baby to be born at the USM Sejahtera Centre on 19th January.

Despite the fact that USM Sejahtera Centre does not receive and deal with birth cases, but due to time constraints and exceptional circumstances, the cute baby was delivered safely with the swift action of the staff of Sejahtera Centre led by its Director, Dr. Nurulain Abdullah Bayanuddin and assisted by Medical Officer, Assistant Medical Officer and nurses.

USM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Omar Osman said that although at first he was shocked when informed of the birth, he would like to congratulate the staff of the Sejahtera Centre for their efficiency in dealing with such emergency cases.

“This birth is a history for the university, and it also proves our commitment and sincerity to make things easier for those who deal with us without compromising on the quality of the work,'' he said.

He said this while speaking at the closing ceremony of USM Health Week organized by USM in conjunction with World Health Day celebrated on 7th April every year.

The presence of the cute baby accompanied by her parents, Sabri Md. Zin dan Majidah Din, both USM staff, became the centre of attention to those who attended the programme.

Omar launched “Sahabat Sejahtera”, a new programme introduced by USM Sejahtera Centre to raise concern and awareness of its community on the importance of overall health care.

He also launched the delivery of a new USM ambulance which he described as an important need that supports and strengthens the health services for the campus community and the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, Nurulain said, the word “well-being” has a broad meaning and is not confined to mere physical health, instead focus is also given to the quality, environment and the way we live our daily life.

He said the Sejahtera Centre is very committed to encouraging the campus community to give more attention to health care issues and has been organizing various activities to achieve this goal.

“We realize the importance of creating an atmosphere of well-being and that is why we decided to change the name of the USM Health Centre to Sejahtera Centre in June 2008,'' he said.

He added that the sense of well-being must start from the individual and each action and decision taken by the individual can influence the individual well-being and those around him or her.

In the meantime, a variety of programmes including health screening, blood donation campaign, health talks, sales, healthy menu demonstration, etc. were carried out during the health week.

Other activities carried out during the annual celebration are healthy walking in the USM campus and healthy lifestyle campaign through exercises such as tai chi, aerobics, cycling and so forth.