YOU TAUGHT ME.........

What a pleasant and genuine surprise!!!


Having sat down at table 8, Jennifer ( my other half) and I started to shake hands with the rest of the guests and we exchanged our calling cards.



The couple sitting opposite us at 11 0'clock were all smiles. The bespectacled gentleman proudly declared: " You were our lecturer during our first year in Med School, Univeristy Malaya !!!"



" You taught us Anatomy in 1976" he continued while his female companion chipped in with a grin from ear to ear," We never forgot!"



I felt pretty embarassed as I dug deep into my cerebral cortex and grey matter but could NOT RELATE who my students were.



As a temporary lecturer in Anatomy, it was our responsibility to not only give lectures but also tutorials and more importantly as demonstrators during dissection of cadavers (a preserved dead person for detail section and study).



To ensure that the students understand the dissections, they would be given a dissection manual where upon they had to read up the day before and as tutors we would quiz them on what they had read. The students would then break into groups of six and head to the dissection table where they would be seated on either side of the cadaver and proceed with one of the group reading the dissection procedure while the other would dissect with a tooth forceps and a scapel blade. The remaining person would help to identify what had been dissected. I would only intervene when there was a hitch as the students could not find the vein, artery or nerve or organ.



The most complicated dissection was the head and neck. There were so many foramina ( a small hole or opening in the bone where a nerve passes. The abdomen was the easiest as the organs dissected are large and easy for identification. The upper and lower extremities next, then the chest cavity (thorax) and the pelvis.



To make Anatomy easy to remember, the students would learn to use acronyms to identify and remember easily anatomical landmarks eg VAN = Vein-Artery-Nerve for operations of the ribs. Medical mnemonics ( formulas or art of remembering in a rhyme-like manner) had also a field day eg Buttock quadrant safest for needle insertion : " Shut up and butt out" < The Upper Outer quadrant of the Buttock safely avoids hitting sciatic nerve>.


Prof Pallie was the head of Department of Anatomy and he was a very good lecturer. He made the study of Anatomy lively and fun. While lecturing on the disection of the Pelvis and its organs, he sternly remarked " All warm blooded mammals have their testes located outside their bodies i.e. the scrotum. " " How is it that a hugh mammal like the Whale has its testes located in their abdomen?" We just looked at each other but could not come out with an answer. Prof Pallie smiled and nonchalantly provided the answer," Because there are SHARKS around!!!" Then only did we realised that it was meant as a JOKE AND WHAT A JOKE!



Sometimes it was just common sense that provide answers. During an anatomy viva ( live discussion) Prof Pallie threw a complicated question that required both knowledge of anatomy and physiology to give a reply, " What is the group of muscles that is used by males to squeeze out the last drop of urine during micturition ( the act of passing urine)?" Again we were at a loss and our understanding was a NONPLUS. Prof Pallie was expressionless when he delivered the answer " THE LUMBRICALS!" OMG , SO SIMPLE - WE FORGOT THAT THE MALE GENDER USE THEIR FINGERS (LUMBRICAL MUSCLES) TO FLICK OFF THE LAST DROP OF URINE



Back to the dinner, " My name is Robert Jalleh". I looked at his card "CONSULTANT SURGEON" His female companion is his wife " Dr Lee Moon Keen - CONSULTANT NEUROLOGIST" Just then my memory paths syn and I recognised their smiling faces. I had over the years had even referred cases to them for further management without realising that my STUDENTS had made good and each a speciality of their own. I am so proud of them!

What a small world! At the dining table , happy days are here again. If only politicians can sit down and talk seriously: Malaya under the Japanese WWII, Merdeka 1957, Malaysia 1963, Confrontation, End of Emergency years, Wawasan 2020, 1 Malaysia and beyond.

Who knows walking the talk on NEM and Economic Transformation Plans and the move to make Malaysia a High Income Nation, someone among the crowd, may come forward and say: " You taught me......"

So proud... and so "shiok"...!!!!!