Listening compassionately is a personalised way to treat patients

A visiting professor/psychologist from Malaysia who had overcome his long-drawn alcoholism in his 30s, said that widespread understanding about addiction, being a brain disease that, like any other disease, must be acted upon and treated, is the solution to the rising global public health problem.

Dr. Prem Kumar Shanmugam who set up in 2013, the first of the Solace Wellbeing Group – Malaysia’s first recognised mental health rehabilitation facility – after earning his Medical degree in Singapore – emphasised too, that substance abusers must be provided with all the support, in order that they re-build their lives. Shanmugam was among the resource speakers/panelists at the recent landmark “Innovations in Health Summit 2025,” the delegates of which were medical practitioners and students across Asia.

Shanmugam, alongside Organising Committee chairman Dr. Abdul Rahman Agha El Kinge, NMC Royal Hospital (Sharjah) medical oncologist, and fellow first session resource speaker/panelist Dr. Adil Sajwani, Mediclinic (Dubai) Family Medicine consultant, were of the opinion that amidst unabated non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other health concerns; through all the general public’s growing reliance and trust on the Internet and other Artificial Intelligence-generated systems, the “personalised way” to patients is by way of the “listening compassionate ear,” an enabling encouragement.

“The role of the doctor is to listen carefully to what the patient is saying. To explain clearly to the patient his diagnosis. To give to the patient the best advice based on evidence. There is no problem with all the Alternative Medicine as long as there is evidence. I would gladly allow patients for second opinion because that would prove my point. Patients have the right to choose. We must respect their decision,” El Kinge told Gulf Today.

Meanwhile, “Pink October Wellness Retreat Day” facilitator Maria Jacob, at the Dusit Thani Dubai where the summit was held, said: “Over the past 10 years, I have seen how yoga, pranayama (art of mindful breathing), meditation, and sound healing inspire strength, hope and renewed sense of self in battling and overcoming breast cancer and other NCDS. These are powerful practices that support women through every stage of their wellness journey.”

On his subjugation of alcoholism, rooted from adolescence that consequently led to broken relationships, stigma, and diagnosed liver cirrhosis at age 32, Shanmugam said: “I thought it was impossible to quit. I went for treatment when I was 32. It was a huge transformation for me because I learnt that addiction is a brain disease because of the imbalance of neurochemicals.”

The imbalance urges one to keep on taking substances (prohibited drugs, alcohol, tobacco, some medications, digital games) because “something in the brain tells the person ‘I need it. I need it. I need it. There is no cut-off for that need.”

Shanmugam, among the only 10 medical practitioners who have specialised in Addiction Medicine in Malaysia – and he stressed that the world needs more – said that awareness, education and acceptance that addiction is brain disease is the need of the time.

That which must be dealt with like the world has been trying to resolve all NCDs and their co-morbidities because these mean mitigating the increasing rates of lawbreakers, and worst recidivists: “Illicit drugs are becoming more available easily. The ingredients used, deadlier. The way they are cooked, unhygienic.”

According to Shanmugam, 2/3 of prisoners in Malaysia are drug-related offenders. According to the United Nations on Drugs and Crime “World Drug Report 2025,” 316 million all over the world had been profiled as illicit drug users between the ages of 15 and 64 in 2023.

Of these, 64 million were established to have been suffering from drug use disorders, 13 per cent (8,320,000) in over 10 years. Of the 316 million, only one in eight women and one in seven men had received treatments.

“It is fine to jail people for crimes they committed because of addiction. They may go in and out four times for the same drug-related offences which may become 25 years. They may die in jail, not given the chance to reform because their addiction disease which is a brain disease has not been treated. We need to educate people. We need more awareness campaigns on the nature of addiction or else, we may lose our future leaders,” he said.