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Dr Molly Zain - Malaysia

I work in the medical / rheumatology unit in one of the major hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, which is the capital of Malaysia. We see many lupus patients in our hospital. In my country, lupus has predilection for Chinese ethnic groups but we do see quite a number in the Malay and Indian ethnic groups.

They usually present in their early 20s – 40s after having skin and joint symptoms for some time. We do see quite a number of early kidney and brain involvement at their initial presentation, but it could be a biased view, as we are the referral centre for lupus.

Most of our patients rely heavily on the doctors to educate them about the disease rather than learning about the disease by using their own initiative. Thus, they leave the treatment options entirely up to the doctors. In the UK, patients seem to be very aware of the disease and go out of their way to learn about the illness. The doctors can also discuss the treatment options with the patient and the patient then takes full responsibility for the mutual decision made.

In terms of support groups, numbers tend to be small but patients with SLE and arthritis can attend these sessions in Kula Lumpur, although they are not run outside the capital.

There are only two rheumatology units in Malaysia for the public service. There are only 18 rheumatologists in the whole country to cater for a population of 20 million. Just 4 of these are operating in the public sector, 3 are affiliated with universities and the remainder see only private patients.

I am finding the experience of working at the lupus unit invaluable. The unit is world renowned and infact my consultant trained here also.

April 2004

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