From Dr G JayakumarNews of the death of Major General Dr R Mohandas (Rtd) on July 27 saddened the nation, which mourned a gentleman who served with distinction as a soldier, a doctor and an academic leader.More than five decades ago, a young freshly graduated medical student returned to his homeland, Malaysia, after graduating with a medical degree from the renowned Madras Medical College in India.After completing his one-year housemanship at Alor Setar Hospital and a short stint as a medical officer in the health ministry, he had a calling to serve in the Malaysian Armed Forces.He signed up as a doctor in the army. The rest is history!He found the lifestyle suitable, structured and disciplined, and was strongly supported by his wife, Thilagavathy, who was his comrade-in-arms on the homefront and during social functions.The young army captain pursued his academic goals by earning a diploma in industrial health from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in the UK, and a diploma in tropical medicine from Mahidol University in Thailand.He subsequently went to New South Wales to complete his master in health planning and attended the senior management course at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California.One of his remarkable contributions in the army on the global front was when he served as the chief medical officer as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in war-torn Somalia.He rose to the pinnacle of his career as a two-star major general. He was the first commanding officer of the Armed Forces Hospital at Lumut Naval Base and retired from the Malaysian Armed Forces as the director-general of health services in the mid-2000s.Mohandas was bestowed with numerous honours and awards locally as well as internationally for his services.
They included the conferment of the Dato' Pahlawan title from the Perak sultan, the Panglima Setia Angkatan Tentera from the king and the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal.His other accolades include being named the Most Outstanding Alumnus of the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, and receiving the Malaysian Medical Association Gold Medal.Upon Mohandas's retirement in 2005 as director-general of the Armed Forces health services, he ventured into academic leadership.He held various academic positions, notably as CEO of Melaka Manipal Medical College, deputy vice-chancellor of Mahsa Universi…
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