Department of Paediatrics

Paediatric Endocrinology Unit

• Management of paediatric patients with diabetes and endocrine disorders which includes:
• Clinical diagnostic service and treatment.
• Counselling and support coordinated by dietician, diabetic nurse, sport physician and counsellor, for patients in diabetic, obesity and endocrine clinics.
• Education and guidance to parents on hormone replacement therapy.
• Provides clinical training grounds and educational workshops for health care professionals in Malaysia.
• Serves as one of the referral centres for paediatric endocrinology cases in Malaysia.

Genetic and Metabolism Unit

• Management of patients with genetic, metabolic and dysmorphological conditions which includes genetic counselling for in-patients and out-patients with inherited conditions by qualified personnel in genetic counseling.
• Serve as a referral centre for clinical genetics and metabolic medicine in Malaysia.
• Increases public and medical staff awareness of medical genetics and issues related to ethical, legal and social issues and promotes methods of prevention of birth defects and inherited conditions.
• Provides education and suitable training in clinical genetics, metabolic medicine and genetic counselling for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as allied sciences personnel and specialized medical staff.

Paediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit

• To serve as a national tertiary referral unit of paediatric inflammatory bowel disease.
• To provide pre- and post-liver transplant assessment and management for paediatric patients with chronic liver disease
• To plan and manage Home Parenteral Nutrition for children with intestinal failure
• To oversee the feeding and nutritional management of children with neurological or respiratory disabilities who require gastrostomy tube feeding.
• Collaboration with community-based organizations in providing support and optimum care for patients and family members.

Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Unit

• Management of paediatric patients with hematology problem and cancer which includes:
• Investigation services such as blood and bone marrow examination and treatment such as radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy.
• Day Care services for patients requiring regular blood transfusion and chemotherapy.
• Collaboration with community-based organizations in providing support and optimum care for patients and family members.

Paediatric Cardiology Unit

• Provides diagnosis for congenital and acquired heart disease by providing tests which includes fetal echocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography and CT angiogram cardiac.
• Provide echocardiography service for critical ill children in the intensive care unit
• Provide counseling to parents with fetaus diagnosis of congenital heart disease
• Provide screening echocardiography to children with syndromes
• Provide treatment to congenital and acquired heart disease in children with medications, follow up at paediatric cardiology clinic and referral to cardiothoracic surgeon for surgery for simple congenital heart disease and pacemaker insertion
• Collaborate with paediatric dentist to provide optimal dental care for children with congenital heart defect who is at high risk of infective endocarditis.

Child Health Unit

To provide services on:

• Breastfeeding and childcare issues for the first-time mothers,
• Babies born with small for gestational age,
• Normal babies for routine childhood vaccinations as per national immunization programme or for additional optional vaccinations.
• Nutritional counselling on complementary feeding
• Counselling on parenting practices, including investment in early childhood development, particularly in the first 1000 days and beyond.

Community and Developmental Paediatrics Unit)

Services provided for children with developmental disorders, learning difficulties and social disabilities (via the Child Development Centre; CDC):

• Diagnostic evaluation of conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (autism/ASD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), early developmental impairment / EDI (global developmental delay / GDD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD), learning disorders (e.g.: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcuia), social-communication disorder and others
• Follow-up, advice and recommendations regarding appropriate early intervention strategies as well as medium and long term intervention, including educational/schooling options

Services provided for children in need of care and protection with reference to Section 17 of the Child Act 2001 (Act 611):

• Diagnostic evaluation
• Coordination of multidisciplinary assessment
• Acute management
• Recommendation regarding appropriate intervention
• Follow-up and monitoring for complications

Paediatric Nephrology

Management of paediatric patients with kidney and urinary tract disease.

Neonatology

Management of premature, low birth weight and high risk babies such as newborn with birth asphyxia, congenital abnormalities, birth trauma, cardio-respiratory problem, hypoglycaemia, jaundice and those requiring surgical intervention.

Paediatric Neurology Unit

Management of patients with acute and chronic neurological disorder. Paediatric Neurology services include:

• Inpatient service:
  • Management of acute neurological emergencies (eg: encephalopathy, epilepsy, paralysis, etc).
  • Daycare elective neurology procedures (eg: lumbar puncture, muscle biopsy, MRI brain scan under sedation, botulinum toxin injection under sedation).
• Outpatient service:
  • Paediatric Neurology clinic
  • Paediatric Neurorehabiliation clinic
  • Multidisciplinary clinics for children with spina bifida, cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disorders
• Neurophysiology services:
  • Electroencephalogram (EEG)
  • Nerve conduction study (NCV), electromyography (EMG)
• Comprehensive Epilepsy evaluation service:
  • Brain MRI scan 3Tesla
  • Overnight video-EEG monitoring
  • Functional Neuroimaging (ictal SPECT, interictal PET)
  • Ketogenic diet evaluation
  • Epilepsy surgery evaluation
  • Vagal nerve stimulator implantation

Paediatric Palliative Care Unit

• Symptomatic treatment for acute or chronic pain in children
• Holistic management of physical, psychological, social and spiritual problems of paediatric patients and their family
• Bereavement care for family members following the death of the child

Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Management of paediatric patients with infection such as HIV, Tuberculosis, SAR, Avian Influenza and Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) and those with low immunity needing further investigation or special treatment.

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

• Management of critically ill pediatric patients with acute life-threatening conditions which need intensive treatment with close and continuous monitoring
• The following modes of treatment and monitoring are often required: -
  • Ventilatory support including invasive, high frequency and non-invasive ventilation
  • Cardiovascular intensive care monitoring and support
• Post-operative surgical care including living donor liver transplantation, neurosurgery, advanced maxillofacial surgery.
• Support of other organ systems such as using inhaled nitric oxide therapy for pulmonary hypertension, total body cooling therapy for hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) & peritoneal dialysis (PD) for acute renal failure hyperammonaemia, total plasma exchange (TPE) for acute liver failure, thrombotic thrombocytopaenia purpura (TTP), blood exchange transfusion (ET) severe pertussis, intracranial pressure monitoring for raised intracranial pressure & traumatic brain injury, EEG monitoring for intractable seizure, central venous catheter insertion for critical ill children & parenteral nutrition, inotropic support for septic shock, video laryngoscope for difficult airway management
• Serves as a tertiary referral centre for consultation of critical illness of children in Malaysia including congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), paediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) and severe dengue
• Provides paediatric resuscitation training for healthcare providers (PALS- Pediatric Advanced Life Support)
• Provides training and education for undergraduate medical students, paediatric nurses, house officers, postgraduate medical officers and paediatric intensive trainees in paediatric critical care medicine

Paediatric Respiratory Unit

Management of paediatric patients with acute and chronic respiratory problems and provide tertiary level of services in respiratory medicine to other hospitals.

Paediatric Trauma and Emergency Unit

Management of paediatric patients that require emergency/urgent treatment including major and minor trauma in children.

Neonatal Resuscitation Programme (NRP)

Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course

Child Development Centre

Community Outreach Projects

A preliminary assessment on the neighhourbood of PPR Lembah Subang 1 showed:

• 1 in 3 children are either stunted or underweight
• Many children only receive 1 to 2 meals a day

UMMC Department of Paediatrics approached these issues through 4 avenues:

• To eliminate hunger and to improve nutrition
  • Micronutrient Supplementation for Children of Urban Poverty Iron Project (CUPIP)
  • Dietary Diversity of infants and Young Children during the CoVID pandemic (CoDDIYC) study
• Nutritional education
• Child health
• Women empowerment