Lean management is a quality improvement system originating from a Japanese carmaker and adopted beyond the car manufacturing industry into private establishments as well as public administrations worldwide. In healthcare, the goal of a lean-focused patient-centric hospital is to gain high patient satisfaction through timeliness and effectiveness. Management and Science University (MSU) alumnus and Sarawak's Lawas Hospital Director Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan practises it.

 

 

Professionally, I want to fill in the gap between medicine and management,” says Dr Ahmad Helmi.

 

Primarily trained in disease diagnosis, treatment and care, Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan is equally proficient in hospital operation and strategic planning.

 

 

“Having dually trained, my role now is to bridge medical knowledge and surgical competency with administrative skills and managerial expertise; which for a healthcare organization can be especially advantageous,” he continues.

 

The eldest in a family of four sons graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from MSU International Medical School (IMS) Bangalore campus in 2013. Paediatrics was his first houseman posting, followed by five more postings in the next two years. Then he began what was to become a definitive career at Lawas Hospitala non- specialist district hospital in the northernmost of Sarawak that borders with Brunei as well as Sabah as Junior Medical Officer.

 

Dr Helmi notes the difference between the loveliness of dealing with tiny humans and the stark realities of managing healthcare at a remote location.

 

“You would actually need an International passport if you wanted to travel to other parts of Sarawak from Lawas; whose closest referral hospital is in Miri, which is only 250km away but may take about five hours to reach by ambulance because of the international borders and the poor road condition. Such a journey is culpable of inducing motion sickness, which makes transferring patients between the two medical facilities a challenge. Yet I had always been inspired by ‘The Road Not Taken’, a poem by Robert Frost; it is about making a decision at a point of divergence, and I made mine,” remarks Dr Helmi.

 

 

MSU Kids Graduation Day 2019

 

Appointed to hospital directorship in 2018 after three years of clinical work in Lawas, Dr Helmi was sponsored by the Malaysian Government to pursue Master of Hospital Administration at UP (University of the Philippines) Manila two years on.

 

As Hospital Director, he is also the Chief Medical Officer, the Hospital Manager, and the Hospital Administrator in charge of planning, accounting, and human resource. It is less clinical work, he says, more performance monitoring of the doctors under his supervision. He remembers his junior years as being constantly on-call because there were only five doctors around. Never did he imagine that the future would bring him an even bigger, in fact the biggest challenge, of all time.

 

“There had been no specialist at the time who oversaw my work; only integrity, accountability, and clinical governance guided me towards providing the best for my patients. Now I’m managing over a hundred and seventy employees, and the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the need to keep my frontline workers constantly motivated,” says Dr Helmi.

 

The human-resource side of his journey into healthcare management is in one part peopled by a particular lesson learned from his time at IMS Bangalore.

 

 

“I had to interview a patient who spoke only Telugu, whereas Kannada and Hindi were the lingua franca in Bangalore. I found help in a parking attendant, who became my interpreter for the day. Learning to adapt and to appreciate will get you far,” he muses.

 

The adapting and appreciating is taking the doctor well on the way to his next destination. The son born to a medical doctor and a teacher professes to teaching being another passion.

 

“A phrase from the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor solemnly vows to urges teaching this art to him or her who wants to learn it. Eventually becoming an educator has always been it for me. After my Master’s, I plan on a PhD and a fellowship in healthcare management. I believe that teaching lean healthcare will be my best contribution to our beloved nation,” concludes Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan.

 

 

MSU Bachelor in Traditional Chinese Medicine (Hons)

MSU Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering

MSU Bachelor in Human Capital Management (Hons)

MSU Master in Business Administration

 

 



Lean management is a quality improvement system originating from a Japanese carmaker and adopted beyond the car manufacturing industry into private establishments as well as public administrations worldwide. In healthcare, the goal of a lean-focused patient-centric hospital is to gain high patient satisfaction through timeliness and effectiveness. Management and Science University (MSU) alumnus and Sarawak's Lawas Hospital Director Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan practises it.

 

 

Professionally, I want to fill in the gap between medicine and management,” says Dr Ahmad Helmi.

 

Primarily trained in disease diagnosis, treatment and care, Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan is equally proficient in hospital operation and strategic planning.

 

 

“Having dually trained, my role now is to bridge medical knowledge and surgical competency with administrative skills and managerial expertise; which for a healthcare organization can be especially advantageous,” he continues.

 

The eldest in a family of four sons graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from MSU International Medical School (IMS) Bangalore campus in 2013. Paediatrics was his first houseman posting, followed by five more postings in the next two years. Then he began what was to become a definitive career at Lawas Hospitala non- specialist district hospital in the northernmost of Sarawak that borders with Brunei as well as Sabah as Junior Medical Officer.

 

Dr Helmi notes the difference between the loveliness of dealing with tiny humans and the stark realities of managing healthcare at a remote location.

 

“You would actually need an International passport if you wanted to travel to other parts of Sarawak from Lawas; whose closest referral hospital is in Miri, which is only 250km away but may take about five hours to reach by ambulance because of the international borders and the poor road condition. Such a journey is culpable of inducing motion sickness, which makes transferring patients between the two medical facilities a challenge. Yet I had always been inspired by ‘The Road Not Taken’, a poem by Robert Frost; it is about making a decision at a point of divergence, and I made mine,” remarks Dr Helmi.

 

 

MSU Kids Graduation Day 2019

 

Appointed to hospital directorship in 2018 after three years of clinical work in Lawas, Dr Helmi was sponsored by the Malaysian Government to pursue Master of Hospital Administration at UP (University of the Philippines) Manila two years on.

 

As Hospital Director, he is also the Chief Medical Officer, the Hospital Manager, and the Hospital Administrator in charge of planning, accounting, and human resource. It is less clinical work, he says, more performance monitoring of the doctors under his supervision. He remembers his junior years as being constantly on-call because there were only five doctors around. Never did he imagine that the future would bring him an even bigger, in fact the biggest challenge, of all time.

 

“There had been no specialist at the time who oversaw my work; only integrity, accountability, and clinical governance guided me towards providing the best for my patients. Now I’m managing over a hundred and seventy employees, and the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the need to keep my frontline workers constantly motivated,” says Dr Helmi.

 

The human-resource side of his journey into healthcare management is in one part peopled by a particular lesson learned from his time at IMS Bangalore.

 

 

“I had to interview a patient who spoke only Telugu, whereas Kannada and Hindi were the lingua franca in Bangalore. I found help in a parking attendant, who became my interpreter for the day. Learning to adapt and to appreciate will get you far,” he muses.

 

The adapting and appreciating is taking the doctor well on the way to his next destination. The son born to a medical doctor and a teacher professes to teaching being another passion.

 

“A phrase from the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor solemnly vows to urges teaching this art to him or her who wants to learn it. Eventually becoming an educator has always been it for me. After my Master’s, I plan on a PhD and a fellowship in healthcare management. I believe that teaching lean healthcare will be my best contribution to our beloved nation,” concludes Dr Ahmad Helmi Hamdan.

 

 

MSU Bachelor in Traditional Chinese Medicine (Hons)

MSU Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering

MSU Bachelor in Human Capital Management (Hons)

MSU Master in Business Administration