Advancing The Boundaries Of Cardiac Excellence

IJN Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Aizai Azan bin Abdul Rahim, who took the helm in July 2019, shares with Business Today the factors behind IJN’s success

- Rajendran Govindarajoo

Cardiovascular disease has been the top cause of mortality in Malaysia. It was reported earlier this year that death due to heart diseases has more than doubled in the past 10 years, with a total of 13,503 deaths in 2017 compared to only 8776 deaths in 2007.

When Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad suffered a heart attack back in 1989, he placed his confidence in our local doctors to perform his bypass surgery. Realising that cardiac disease was a major cause of mortality in the country, he mooted the idea of having Malaysia’s own centre of excellence for cardiovascular diseases, hence IJN was born. To date, the country’s premier referral centre for cardiovascular diseases, has treated about 4 million patients since it first opened its doors in 1992.

THE JOURNEY

Joining IJN in 1995 as a Senior Registrar in Cardiology, Dr Aizai has had the privillege to grow in leaps and bounds together with the institute, rising from a consultant cardiologist to top management level over the years. Thanks to IJN’s management which provided ample opportunities to hone his knowledge and skills through trainings and further studies abroad.

Clarifying the mist on IJN’s status, Dr Aizai dismissed the notion that IJN was a semi-government hospital. He said although IJN was 99.9 percent owned by the Ministry of Finance, it operated under the private healthcare facilities act, therefore it had always been a fullfledged private hospital.