I Am Quitting... How to About You?

On May 29, 2016, Malaysia launched the ambitious mQuit quit smoking service programme for the estimated 4.7 million smokers in this country. We talk to an expert who is actively involved in mQuit, to find out how it will make a difference in our lives. Words Lim Teck Choon

- Lim Teck Choon

“Smoking cessation is something every doctor should know,” Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq says as he sits down to share with HealthToday a little bit more about mQuit, a smoking cessation programme recently launched by the Ministry of Health in co-operation with University of Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Akademi Farmasi Malaysia, and Johnson and Johnson Sdn Bhd.

He sees parallels between his journey from medical student to smoking cessation specialist and the current mQuit programme. “My mentor was Professor Dr Mohamad Hussain Habil, who encouraged me to pursue my PhD in smoking cessation, and he felt that there was a need for more medical professionals to be better equipped to handle this matter,” he says. The Professor was the past Director of the University of Malaya Centre for Addiction Sciences, of which Dr Amer is currently the Chief Coordinator, and theirs is a relationship that thrives to this very day. “And it was during the course of that journey that I realized how many of my colleagues in health – doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists – were ill-equipped to help their patients stop smoking.” With that realization, came the epiphany that it was his calling to help train and assist his fellow medical colleagues in empowering their patients to quit the habit.