Tuesday, January 31, 2023

List of 30 PowerPoint Presentations / Lectures Given by this author to Profession / Medical / Scientific Organations in Malaysia, Singapore, Manila, Brunei and in Australia

 

Below are 30 PowerPoint presentations out of 186 given by this author to various academic, professional, medical and scientific organizations in Malaysia, Singapore, Manila, Brunei and in Australia 

 

More slides shall be added in stages later.  


 

lim ju boo 

 

 

Please open with browser given at the bottom after you click these link sites below:

 

Click + /- at the bottom of slides to adjust size of the slides so that they fit into the screen.

 

 

1.       Physiological Basis for Weight Management & Stabilization

1.https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIKWoyYK9AZem5Z4G

 

2.       Nutrition and Cancer: New Lamps for Old Its Dynamics and Kinetics

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIByoyYK9Afyq5Z4G

 

3.       The Therapy of Choice: Synthetic Drugs vs. Botanical Medicines in Cancer Management

 

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIO6oyYK9AdGw5Z4G

 

4.       Hen’s Egg

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sID-oyYK9Adi15Z4G

 

5.       Genetically Modified Foods: Meeting Challenges. Amidst Fears

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIESoyYK9AZ245Z4G

 

6.       Dietary Strategies and Nutritional Interventions in Cancer Prevention and Management

6.https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIGuoyYK9Afi55Z4G

 

7.       Cancer: Past, Present and Future

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIGyoyYK9Ab665Z4G

 

8.       Plant-Based Diet in Cancer Prevention  

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIC-oyYK9Abm75Z4G

 

9.       BCWA Forum on Cancer by Dr Lim

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sICioyYK9Abe-5Z4G

 

10.   Cancer: Past, Present and into the Future https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sICyoyYK9AaPA5Z4G

 

11.   Creation and Science: The Genesis of Time: Matter and Life

11.https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIDOoyYK9AbbC5Z4G

 

 

12.   Cryosurgery for Cancer

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIHyoyYK9AeXF5Z4G

 

13.   The Meaning of Health and Its Measurement

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIHmoyYK9AeTI5Z4G    

 

14.   Airway Management

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIA2oyYK9AYvL5Z4G

 

 

15.   The SARS Virus An Alien from Outer Space?

 

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIHCoyYK9AYbQ5Z4G

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIO-oyYK9AfvL5Z4G

 

Immensity Beyond Our Imagination

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIAeoyYK9AffR5Z4G

 

 

16.   The Biology of Ageing: Why We Need to Get Old & Die https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIKGoyYK9AYPT5Z4G

 

17.   Cardiovascular Diseases in Malaysia

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIIaoyYK9AbrU5Z4G

 

18.   Carotino and Health

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIGmoyYK9AZvV5Z4G

 

 

19.   TUMOUR THERAPY AND OSTEOARTHRITIS TREATMENT A NEW PARADIGM WITH

1https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIAOoyYK9AfjW5Z4G

 

20.   Nutriceutical Benefits of Dynapharm Products

20.https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIDGoyYK9AdDX5Z4G

 

21.   Nutrition and Disease

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIMmoyYK9AfHY5Z4G

 

22.   Let Food Be Your Medicine

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIMmoyYK9AfHY5Z4G

 

23.   Space Travel

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sICqoyYK9AbXs5Z4G

 

24.   Biotechnology in History: The Human Genomic Project:

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIM-oyYK9AaHc5Z4G

 

25.   The Scientist and Ethics:

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIKSoyYK9Acrd5Z4G

 

26.   Synthetic Drugs Versus Herbal Medicine

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIOKoyYK9Acre5Z4G

 

27.   Silymarin and Liver

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sINqoyYK9Adjf5Z4G

 

28.   Interesting Hobbies for Young and Old

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIMaoyYK9Afnh5Z4G

 

29.   Status in Health and in Poverty

        https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIJqoyYK9AYDm5Z4G

    30.  Aspirin, Salicylates, Turmeric and Curries in               Cancer-Prevention

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=cancer

  

 Some readers told me they are interested on my presentations on Cancer. In that case go to the following presentations:


2.       Nutrition and Cancer: New Lamps for Old Its Dynamics and Kinetics

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIByoyYK9Afyq5Z4G

 

3.       The Therapy of Choice: Synthetic Drugs vs. Botanical Medicines in Cancer Management

 

 https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIO6oyYK9AdGw5Z4G

 

6.       Dietary Strategies and Nutritional Interventions in Cancer Prevention and Management

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIGuoyYK9Afi55Z4G

 

7.       Cancer: Past, Present and Future

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIGyoyYK9Ab665Z4G

 

8.       Plant-Based Diet in Cancer Prevention  

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sIC-oyYK9Abm75Z4G

 

9.       BCWA Forum on Cancer by Dr Lim

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sICioyYK9Abe-5Z4G

 

10.   Cancer: Past, Present and into the Future 

https://sg.docworkspace.com/l/sICyoyYK9AaPA5Z4G

 

11.   Aspirin, Salicylates, Turmeric and Curries in Cancer-Prevention

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=cancer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, January 28, 2023

The Joy of Giving

Yesterday, Friday, 27 January 2023 was the 6th day of Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit I was born 84 years ago

I was then waiting for a bus opposite the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday morning when I saw a destitute and homeless man in very dirty clothes sleeping beneath the pedestrian bridge connecting the hospital and the pavement opposite. He was so dirty looking, probably he hasn’t bathed for several weeks or months.

My heart sank for him. I asked my wife who was sitting beside me at the bus stand about 30 metres away from this man if she can give some money to him?  She gave me 2 ringgit which I promptly walked over to the corner beneath the bridge where this man was sleeping to wake him up. He was barely conscious opening only one eye which was red and inflamed.  I spoked briefly to him and placed the two little ringgit beside him and walked back to my wife.

 I could not give more since my wife holds all my money leaving me with no purse on my own. She pays for all our household needs leaving me with no spending money on my own. However, I do not mind as we are sharing our needs equally together although all the money was 100 % mine. She is not working since she married me, and all the sources of income were and still totally mine till today.

When I went back to my wife after giving just two ringgits to the man, I told her I do not mind giving more, as much as I could afford as his needs are far more than mine even though I am not rich. I told her this gives me tremendous joy in my heart as Jesus wanted. I reminded her of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus told by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31.

I told my wife I would not mind giving much more to him. We have a lot more, but he has none.  I told her it is giving and sharing that gives me tremendous joy and happiness especially now on the 6th day of my Year of the Rabbit.  I told her I would never be happy even if I were to have all the wealth in this world but knowing many others out there like this  homeless man in the streets who may not have even a single meal for the day, let alone a place to bathe and clean himself, and to wear clean clothes daily. He has not even some very basic shelter or in any home except under a pedestrian bridge.

I explained to her we have sufficient food to eat, water to drink, a bathroom to urinate and ease ourselves and to bathe and wear clean clothes daily, many thanks to my wife to do all the laundering and ironing. 

When I explained these to her, she promptly gave me another RM 3 to give it to the man which I immediately limped my way to him. I limped because I suffer from a chronic leg ulcer for many years. 

My only need is just to be comfortable without carrying other unnecessary material burdens in life. I told my wife I do not mind giving that man as much as I can as his needs are far more than ours. We have all those simple things we need and we are more than comfortable without unnecessary carrying heavy material burdens to maintain them.   

I know unnecessary material wealth can only last us at maximum a hundred years of our exceedingly short life only to instantly leave them all behind to crumble the instant our hearts stop pumping and we breathe our last only to face eternity with nothing. The rich and famous may not like this and will strongly deny this.  Unfortunately, this is gospel truth, and it shall always remain eternally true till kingdom comes. Others read our lives, not the religion we follow, or the religious books we read. It's our lives we lead that tell all. 

If we believe we have no soul, then all those material wealth we acquired in life will instantly come to naught as they crumbled away over the years after our death.  Our bodies shall be decomposed by bacteria if buried, eaten by worms and maggots if exposed, or reduced into ashes by the flames of cremation. 

If we think we have no soul, we will completely have no memory of our selfish enjoyments in the past. But if we believe there is a soul that is believed in every culture, by every race, society, religion and by all civilizations for over 500,000 years, that would be even far worse if we are selfish and uncaring while we are still in this world. We would face an eternity of sufferings in hell like that rich and uncaring man as clearly told by Jesus in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus when they both died. Jesus clearly hinted the existence of a soul carried away when we die. 

I remember when I was a student in India that is a very poor country. I used to see little children wearing thin worn clothes roaming in the streets begging in late winter nights which is very cold in northern India. Being just a student, I did not have much money, but those children have far less.

Out of love and compassion I gave them a few rupees I could only afford, knowing well it does not help them much, but at least they would not go hungry for that night.

But I was rewarded immensely by the joy and peace in my heart when I returned to my hostel bed to sleep. I have so much peace and joy in my heart knowing I have given my best for the child at least to have a simple meal for a cold night when I was comfortable in my hostel even though she might be hungry again the next day. 

I would think of the children all night long. I could not sleep but just the thought sharing my heart with them. It was so peaceful to me, a joy for me no money could buy. That was what I wanted.  It has always been like that all my life.

I have never asked for anything more than just simple living. When I was in school all I asked was just to get a simple school certificate to become a clerk to earn a small sum of money to live as simple a life as possible without possessing any material wealth to burden me. But God gave me more than what I asked. I am always reminded of the adage that says, “we complain we have no shoes till we see someone without feet”.

I have never asked for any wealth to be given to me in my prayers except to be granted understanding. I just want a very, very small place in heaven when my soul leaves my body, and I am very aware this is going to be very difficult because of our material possessions. I am very aware of this verse as an example:  

“Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' Those who heard this asked, 'Who then can be saved?'  Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.' Peter said to him, 'We have left all we had to follow you!' 'I tell you the truth,' Jesus said to them, 'no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God   will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:24-30).

Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

Jesus also spoke on love and compassion in the parable of the Good Samaritan

 (Luke 10:25-37)

Jesus lived a life of total sacrifice. He had nothing in life when He arrived to this world. He was born of a humble birth in a manger among animals. He lived a life in total humility, love, compassion, forgiveness. His awesome miracles bestowed upon Him by God, His Heavenly Father are beyond comprehension. He was able to bypass all the laws controlling the chemistries of life, disease, and death. His overwhelming curative powers are beyond our understanding of science and medicine.   Even the storms obeyed Him to calm down.

(Mark 4:35-41).

Obviously, He did not come from this world.

“My Kingdom Is Not of This World”

(John 18:36)

He told His disciples to leave everything behind and follow Him (His style of living), and they left everything behind to follow Him. He was not even married to have a wife and family to burden Him. His sacrifice was totally to God, His Father in heaven.

How many Christians today, including almost all the rich church pastors today who took high salaries from offerings of followers of their churches actually meant for the church are prepared to go out to preach completely empty-handed without any income or have family to support?

 How many of them preach these values and lifestyles to their church followers? How many has ever taught their church followers all the verses contained in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew from chapters 5, 6, and 7? Almost none I believe, as I have not heard them taught, not even once in all the churches I attended in my life. They avoided all those teachings of Jesus, and instead preach almost mainly from the New Testament what Paul taught after Jesus left because Paul was the first preacher to the early churches. Paul too taught almost the easy way out like the pastors of modern churches. As Jesus said, very few will find their way into the Kingdom of God just like the rich man and Lazarus.

Mark's Gospel records: "At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth" (Mark 10:22). The man is moving away now, and Jesus, who Mark says "loved him," is watching him as he goes.

I can hear a sigh, a sorrow, in Jesus' voice as he reflects on the encounter. "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" (18:24).

On his note, I too fall badly on the glory of God, and I need to improve tremendously. I know it is extremely difficult to leave everything behind, but it is possible with God provision. 

However, I am encouraged by these verses:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:26-34). These verses too were never taught in any of the churches today I have attended. The all avoided them and taught easy verses over and over again such as

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 16). It is a million times just to believe in theory, but a billion times harder to put into practice.

I remember I was given two cars by a patient whom I helped for free. I already have a car, but then I was burdened to maintain three cars. I used them for less than six months and gave them all away including my personal car for free. The same when I have 3 motorcycles. I gave 2 away, and now keep only one motorcycle, a bicycle that is the most efficient machine ever invented and a motorized bicycle that I never use. 

I walk, or ride to a nearby shop on my motorbike or on a bicycle. Further than that, I go by bus or my children will drive me there because if Jesus could walked, rode on a boat, or rode on an ass into Jerusalem, I cannot see why is it humbling for me to ride on a bicycle just as students and even professors ride on bicycles at the University of Cambridge where I have also done some postdoctoral studies. 

I already have a simple house to stay comfortably, and a shophouse that used to burden me to upkeep and to maintain. I disposed that shop lot at a great loss with no regrets as I do not want any anything physical and material to burden my life.  I only want something as simple as possible to allow Jesus to come into my life to take away all my burdens to give me rest especially at old age. 

When Mother Teresa of Calcutta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, reporters around the world asked her what she was going to do with all those money from the Nobel Prize. She promptly replied this: 

"What money? All I have is this saree, and a pail to wash my saree”. 

That very famous, wise, and beautiful humble answer she gave that resounded by newspapers around the world.  This was God guided answer for Mother Teresa to field the hordes of news reporters surrounding her. 

“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”

(1 Timothy 6:8-10)

It is not the money that is the root of all evils, but it is the LOVE of money over and above what we actually need for a simple life that is the root of all evils.

There is nothing like the immense joy we receive by giving and sharing as it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Trust my life experience. It pays back many times.

lim ju boo




 

 


Saturday, January 21, 2023

The Dilimma of Doctors without Permanent Jobs Here or Elsewhere

 

The dilemma of doctors with no permanent job in Malaysia

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-dilemma-of-medical-doctors-for.html

Here’s an article I read in today’s paper about doctors trying to seek employment elsewhere especially in nearby Singapore due to no scope for them in this country:

NST Leader: Cry, my beloved doctors:

https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/leaders/2023/01/871220/nst-leader-cry-my-beloved-doctors

This problem is not about doctors without permanent employment in government service, but it is  about having too many students wanting to study medicine, only to land up as contract doctors. This has been going for over 60 years already. It is not just a job problem they are now facing, but they chose a career after they left school.  

I think this problem may also later apply to all other graduates who opt to study only one popular field of study such as computer science, and not just students choosing to study medicine.

During my time in the late 1960’s all graduates including medical doctors were in great demand, and they all could easily get a job with a common basic starting pay of RM 750 per month irrespective what field they studied, whether medicine, dentistry, any branch of science, engineering, arts, economics, etc.  Their basic salary of RM 750 per month applies to all graduates as long as they are graduates with a basic bachelor’s degree, and it does not matter in which field or profession.  In addition to the basic starting pay, they all got an allowance called COLA (Cost of Living Allowances) depending on where they work, a higher COLA if they are in the capital city in Kuala Lumpur.

My starting salary then, besides RM 120 as COLA, was RM 1,500 per month, twice as much as any other graduate because of my higher MSc degree plus a Postgraduate Diploma in Nutrition.  I have not got my PhD yet. That was what was given to me. But prior to my appointment at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), I was working for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. There my salary was US $ 80,000 per year (US $ 6667 per month) or RM 20,000 per month at an exchanged rate of US $ 1 = RM 3 during the 1960’s, but is now equivalent to RM 344,000 per year or RM 28,600 per month at present 2023 rate of US $ 1 = RM 4.2854988 Malaysian Ringgits

But despite this very huge disparity in salary as well as academic-professional recognition between the United States and Malaysia, I still prefer to return to my homeland here in Malysia where I was born. In fact, prior to my job at MIT, I was already offered a job in England, but I rejected it, and later WHO also offered me another job to conduct cancer research in Lyon in France which I also rejected. I was choosy then.  So there was not much problem for me looking for a job then. In fact, they voluntarily offered me jobs, I never sought them.  When I was still doing my postgraduate studies at the University of London I wrote to the Ministry of Health Malaysia if I can get a job with them. They immediately replied they already have a vacancy for me waiting, but I was still studying in London.

But that was in the 1960’s where there was not much competition, and far less graduates in all fields including in medicine and in all professions. Even then doctors in government service were very disgruntled and unhappy with their pay at only RM 750 per month which was tuppeny by today’s standard but was as big as a bullock cart-wheel at that time. Cost of living then was incredibly cheap and very low.  Even though the cost of living was very low then, doctors in government service were still very unhappy in the 1960s. They were constantly complaining of low pay, overwork and sent to rural areas. Year after year doctors were demanding better pay which took the government decades to give them a ‘drastic’ rise after countless fights and demands with only a few revisions of salaries for all employees in government service, not just for doctors.

Many doctors in the 1960’s left government service and went into private practice. They were unhappy to be with the government due to poor pay, overwork and little chance for promotion or for specialization. So, a lot left for private practice which was then more lucrative, and higher in demand because patients could afford it at just RM 5 - 15 with medicines for simple ailments like coughs and colds. Cost of living then was very low, and everything from food to houses. Everything was very, very cheap then.

For instance, when I first came to KL to work at IMR I initially rented an unfurnished master bedroom with an attached bathroom in Jalan Maroof in Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur which is a very expensive area currently but was hardly developed then. My room rent in a bungalow was just RM 80 per month. Then after the May 1969 incident, I rented a whole single storey terrace house nearer my workplace.  Initially my rented house was in the middle of a row of linked single-storey terrace houses, and later I shifted to a corner house with a garden at only RM 180 per month. Later, I again shifted to another single-storey house in Taman Melewar, 1 km from where I am now staying, and the rent for the whole house was also RM 180 per month.  I then bought my first brand new car a Volkswagen at only RM 7,000

Where can we find a house with a rent of just RM 180 per month these days or a master bedroom with an attached bathroom in a bungalow in posh areas like Bangsar with a rent of just RM 80 per month,  or a brand-new car at only RM 7,000?

A few years later I bought my own house for RM 41,500, and the price of houses have already shot up from RM 10,000 to over RM 40,000.  This was more than 4 times as much a few years earlier.

 My current same house is now over RM 400,000 which is nearly 10 times more than when I first bought it around 1975.

A doctor’s or a science graduate's pay is now between RM 4,000 – RM7,000 and no longer just a fixed RM 750 per month as it was in the late 1060’s.  The current grade of salaries for doctors and other graduates depends on their years of service, and yearly rise in salaries. Let us take an average of RM 5,000 per month for any graduate, including medical, dental, pharmacy, nutrition, food science or any graduate with a basic bachelor’s degree.

This “drastic” increase is 6.6 times more than the RM 750 per month we got in the late 1960’s. But the cost of an average single-storey house even in the rural areas these days is over RM 400,000. This means a simple house is now 80 times the pay of a graduate including a Medical Officer’s pay these days, compared to just 6.6 times my pay then at RM 1,500, and 13.3 times for other all other graduates including Medical Officer’s (MO)’s salary during my time. This also means I could buy a house within less than 7 months or 13 months for other graduates provided we stayed with our parents for free.  

That’s why in my area where I am now staying, we get a lot of cars parked outside the houses belonging to the children of parents whose children cannot afford to buy their own houses. So, they stay with their parents for free food and free lodging, struggling to buy their own houses, which they may never be able to buy with each passing year as prices of houses and other commodities keep skyrocketing far beyond their rise in salaries or income.

The cost of living has skyrocketing over 10 times for everything from food, lodging to buying a house within just 53 years from my time in the early 1970’s and this escalating cost of living is not an arithmetical rate, but an exponential event due to a corresponding rise in population, human social and economic demands.

Turning to the question on problems faced by doctors in this country as in the linked article above, it is not the question of them just migrating to Singapore or elsewhere to work, but it is the question if their medical degrees are recognized for practice elsewhere other than in Malaysia. For instance, as far as I know all medical degrees from all public and private universities except from the University of Malaya and National University of Malaysia (UKM), are not recognized for practice in Singapore This includes all foreign medical degrees from Indonesia, Middle East and Pakistan as well as those from India are not recognized in Singapore or registrable by the Singapore Medical Council  (SCM). The only medical degree from India that is registrable by the SMC is an MBBS from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). But Malaysian doctors with British or Australian medical degrees are recognized in Singapore, but rarely from other foreign universities. Singapore, like all other countries, has their own standard for recognition in medical practice. So it is not as easy as that as the newspapers claim that all Malaysian doctors can just cross over to Singapore or to any other country to practice there if they are not happy here or unable to get a permanent job in this country. It all depends on if the country recognizes their medical qualifications for registration in that host country. But if a medical doctor qualifies from any British university whose degrees are registrable by the GMC (General Medical Council) in the UK, then that is not the problem for almost all countries in the world to accept them because traditionally British universities have a very high standard of education. Their degrees in almost any field of study have that academic gold standard. If GMC accepts them for practice in the UK, then they are very safe since almost all countries, especially the Commonwealth countries will accept them. But it is not easy to gain admission to study medicine in the UK, especially at the University of London, Oxford, Cambridge or at Edinburgh. It cost at least RM one million to complete a five-year course there. So, students go to Indonesia, Middle East, India and Pakistan to study medicine which is a lot much cheaper, only to land up with a medical degree that is not recognized / registrable in most countries except in the country they qualify

Singapore, which is our nearest traditional, political, social, cultural and geographical neighbour just across the Causeway, and it is unfortunate not every doctor can just cross over and set up a practice there. Hence it is not true that there is a brain drain of doctors qualified from any university here or abroad to just cross over to Singapore to practice medicine there.  Even if they are specialist doctors qualified from local or other university, SMC is only interested in their basic bachelor’s medical degree which must be registrable first unless they hold Memberships or are Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP / FRCP) or Members / Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS / FRCS) from England or Scotland or  are Fellows of Royal College of Psychiatry or Fellows of Royal College of Pathologists.

This is very unfortunate when their basic medical degrees are not registrable in Singapore or elsewhere. They are all stuck here unless they find other jobs to earn a living, unlike all other graduates in other fields of study that are more flexible and adaptable where they all already able to find very well-paid jobs in Singapore and elsewhere, get married, have a family and were  already able to buy a few houses and settled down peacefully for good, while younger doctors are still stuck here as contract doctors, underpaid and overloaded with all kinds of patients walking in and walking out, besides writing tons of notes, often non-clinical in nature. So, what were they trying to prove by choosing a pathway  to become a doctor?  

How then do we expect these thousands of doctors on contract in government service in this country going to practice elsewhere? They have no choice but just stay put here in this country to practice on their own.  This is not easy with tens of thousands of private clinics now in the country. I heard from my former Director at IMR it takes RM 20,000 – RM 50,000 per month to run a simple GP clinic. In order to cover the cost of running a private GP clinic, the contract doctors in government service need to spend at least RM 650 - RM 1,700 per day to maintain their clinic where they need to pay rentals, staff salaries, electricity, water bills, medicines, overheard charges, etc. Then the question is how much are they going to charge each patient to cover up their cost? Unfortunately, the more they charge, the lesser patients will get, as patients now go in doves to the government health centres, clinics and hospitals where they get free treatment despite a longer wait. Foreigners pay a nominal fee in government hospitals and clinics.

So, our question is, where are all these doctors going to go – they are on temporary contract with the government, and with medical degrees not recognized or registrable anywhere outside the country, not even in nearby Singapore. Running their own GP practice is now highly unprofitable and competitive with almost empty patients outside. It is prohibitive to run any clinic even in smaller towns due to cost.

Private hospitals will not accept ordinary medical doctors, unless they are senior specialists with rare higher qualifications where they also need to buy their own rooms in the private hospitals. Private hospitals are not going to pay them any salary. They are on their own, having to buy their own rooms there at over a million Ringgit each.  

Furthermore, medical doctors cannot do any other jobs like switching jobs to become engineers, lawyers, architects, food scientists, analytical chemists or even do nursing or become a dentist or pharmacist as they belong to another profession.  Neither can they go into business without any capital or do they have any clue about how to do business, let alone having a sharp business acumen.  They can only treat sick patients, and nothing else, and not everyone is sick. So where are they going to go or do to earn a living?

At least for other general graduates they can diversify into any other fields to work. They can go to Singapore or wherever they like to work in as many areas they wish in any industry.

I think this dilemma we have of having too many medical doctors in this country is because students when they embark into a career, they have no direction. They either listen to their own peer group who are equally blind which path to take when they are still in school, or their equally uninformed parents want them to be doctors. It is a blind leading another blind.

I remember when I was in school, my English literature teacher singled me out in the whole class as one, “in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king”.

Luckily, after hearing what he said about me, I took it as a warning to ask me to diversify in order to have a very wide spectrum of education in most branches in sciences and medicine, even in astronomy, evolutionary biology, forensic toxicology as hobbies long after my retirement as senior medical research officer at IMR.

Think carefully before we leap. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Lim ju boo 

 

 

Friday, January 13, 2023

Who Were the Ancient Visitors to Earth?

 

I received this question sent to our group WhatsApp chat that reads:

“I am just wondering in Erich von Daniken video talk someone sent here,

Daniken claimed these ancient gods were extra-terrestrial beings with heads, helmets, arms and legs in spaceships which the ancient people thought were gods. I am wondering how these gods or aliens could travel so far away from another world.

May be Dr Lim Ju Boo can explain better as he is the best person, as he is a walking encyclopaedia in astronomy, biology, chemistry, evolution, mathematics, medicine to zoology come what may”

---------------------------------------------

Here's my reply to him.

Thank you, Tan Sri Doctor, for your question soliciting my unworthy opinion. I shall try my best, hopefully others in the chat group can also chip in theirs.

 

First of all, I’m not a walking encyclopaedia. I too sometimes need to search here and there or do some calculations or reason them out myself. It could be a guess work sometimes. Literature search is very time consuming and takes a lot of time. Anyway, that's my problem. 

 

Okay now, I don't think I agree with Erich von Daniken totally that these ancient beings who visited this world were beings like you and me, because if they were, they would need air, food and water during the journey, and they needed to carry tens of millions of tons of them to last them into such a horrendously long journey of several hundreds, if not thousands of light years. Even the nearest star to Earth is a three-star system Alpha Centauri that lies about 4.37 light-years away. That's the closet. That is 41.3 trillion km away (1 light year = 9.46 trillion kilometres). There are 3.154e+7 seconds in a year. 

 

Even if these ancient space travellers can travel at, let's say 2 % the speed of light as Daniken claimed, they will still need to travel at near 6000 km per second since the speed of light is 299 792 458 m / s. Even at that speed it will take them 218 years to reach Earth from the nearest star, and that's the nearest world from the nearest star system. What about from another world? It could be from any of the 100–400 billion other stars and worlds within the Milky Way Galaxy spanning 52,850 light years across in radius. How long would these aliens need to take, and for what purpose would they need to take such a horrendously long journey? Just to build the Great Pyramid at Gaza or set up the Stonehenge monument on Salisbury Plain in England? 

 

Were they just wanting to draw all those Nazca Lines that are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru, or draw some zoomorphic designs, including a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat, and a human, said to be created between 500 BCE and 500 CE,  best seen from the air which he suggests may have been constructed by humans as crude replicas of previous alien structures, as a way to call the aliens back to Earth.

 

 Other examples Erich von Daniken gave was Moai of Easter Island, and an early world map known as the Piri Reis map, which he described as showing Earth as it is seen from space. He uses this same explanation to argue that cart ruts in Malta may have had extra-terrestrial purposes along with similar lines in Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the Aral Sea.

 

 For what purpose do they want to do this? What so special about us, or rather what so special about the ancient civilizations that the aliens have to undertake such an unspeakable journey just to impress them?  

 

We know that there may be as much as 100 trillion, trillion (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) or 1026 other worlds out there from one end of the tether to the other end some 93 billion light years  across which is 8.8 23 km (880 000,000,000,000,000,000,000) km in diameter, or about 28.5 gigaparsecs.

 

Go to these two articles on number of stars like sands on a cosmic ocean  

 

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=sands+on+earth

 

https://taionn.blogspot.com/search?q=cosmic+ocean

 

Why then should only our world be so special to these alien beings wanting to visit us?  

 

Separately from his video-lecture, in his book “Chariots of the Gods” he also put forward that ancient artwork throughout the world can be interpreted as depicting astronauts, air and space vehicles, extra-terrestrials, and complex technology. Von Daniken explains elements that he believes are similar in the art of unrelated cultures.

 

Among the artwork he describes are the ancient Japanese Dogu figurines which he believes to resemble astronauts in spacesuits, and 3,000-year-old carvings in an Egyptian New Kingdom Temple that appear to depict helicopter-like machines.

 

In “Chariots of the Gods” he further suggested that the origins of many religions, including interpretations of the Old Testament of the Bible, are reactions to contact with an alien race such as in the Book of Ezekiel a Hebrew prophet whom in Judaism and Christianity, who lived in the 6th-century BCE, Daniken spoke of a space vehicle that could move forward, backwards, sideways all at the same time.  According to him, humans at that time considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods.

 

Von Daniken asks if the oral and literal traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from stars and vehicles traveling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and become more obscure. 

 

Another problem is, if they were similar beings like us, wouldn't they age and die on the way here?

 

Of course, we may argue if they could travel near the speed of light their clock will slow down and they may remain young to withstand the journey. This is called “time dilation” given by Lorentz formula as, γ = √ (1 - v²/c²) determine by the time interval measured by the stationary observer, where v is the speed of the travelling viewer’s velocity, and c is the speed of light. Substituting the value of v into the equation √ (1 - 36 000 000 / 8.988 x 10^10) gives us the result that is still only 0.999 of real time measured by the traveller.

 

In other words, even if the extra-terrestrial beings travelled at 2 % the speed of light, this does not slow down their age significantly, or make them younger to ensure they do not age and die somewhere along the way during those appalling lengthy interstellar journey, if I have interpreted this Lorentz or Einstein theory correctly?

 

Another problem these ancient visitors would encounter is, where are they going to get the energy from to power their spaceship or spacecraft? 

 

Accelerating just one ton of their spaceship to one-tenth of the speed of light would require at least 450 P Joules or 4.5 ×10^17 Joules, or 125 billion kWh, not accounting for losses. The source of energy must be carried since solar panels do not work far from the Sun and other stars. The magnitude of this energy simply makes interstellar travel impossible.

 

Another problem we are confronted here is, were those ancient extra-terrestrial visitors human-like with DNA and genetic materials in their bodies similar to ours or with female humans during Noah's time around 967 BC or 2,948 years ago? If not, they would not be able to mate with human females due to mismatch in the number of chromosomes 

 

In Genesis 6:4 it says:

 

"There were Nephilim on earth in those days, and after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown" 

 

So, who were the Nephilim then? Were they “sons of God" or were the offspring who were the "mighty men of old, men of renown" or were they those unknown ancient extra-terrestrial visitors Erich von Daniken described? 

 

See this question further here:

 

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=nephilim

 

 

If they were humans like us, I really do not think they would have been able to make all those staggeringly lengthy journeys from another world light years away.

 

As I said earlier, where would they get the oxygen to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat between their interstellar journeys, unless they were spiritual beings like angels that Erich von Daniken would not believe or agree with me? If they are angels or some spiritual beings from another world that did not require air or oxygen, water food or any propulsion fuels, then there was a possibility. But then again, how could the sons of God mate with humans?   

 

My answer to these, and also to your interesting question is, I really do not know.  Almost all those marvels of ancient mysteries are hidden from us unless someone else can illuminate better.  

 

I hope I have explained, and thank you once again for your question

 

Lim ju boo  

 

(Erich von Daiken is a German-Swiss author of several books which make claims about extra-terrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods? published in 1968. He is main person responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts’ hypotheses

 

Erich von Daiken is a German-Swiss author of several books which make claims about extra-terrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods? published in 1968. He is main person responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts’ hypotheses

 

Here is the video-lecture by Erich von Daiken my brother-in-law sent to us in our WhatsApp group:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnFRp4Hyz0c&authuser=0


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