T. Sachithanandan

Sachithanandan Thambinathan (Dato' Dr) better known as T. Sachithanandan was an eminent pioneering Malaysian doctor (Anaesthesiologist) of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry. Born in Kuala Lumpur (4 September 1931), he attended Victoria Institution and graduated from the University of Calcutta (MBBS 1957) where he was the Founder President of the International Students Association.^[1] During his postgraduate specialist training in anaesthesia in the United Kingdom (1961–63), Sachithanandan trained with several highly eminent pioneering post-war British anaesthesiologists including Dr John Alfred Lee (Southend-on-Sea Hospital), Professor John Francis Nunn (Northwick Park Hospital and later Leeds University Hospital) and Professor Thomas Cecil Gray (Liverpool). He was conferred the FFARCSI a Fellowship in Anaesthesia by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin 1963).

In 1964, Sachithanandan and JF Nunn et al. were the first investigators to demonstrate age-dependent airway closure in humans whilst breathing at residual volume. They observed the resulting desaturation was due to perfusion of unventilated alveoli. Their research findings still remains a highly cited British Journal of Anaesthesia publication with important implications for mechanical ventilatory support of the critically ill patient to correct the resulting hypoxaemia and atelectasis from the reduced lung volumes.^[2]

Upon returning to Malaysia, Sachithanandan was appointed consultant anaesthesiologist to the Johor Baru General Hospital (since renamed Hospital Sultanah Aminah) where he practised for two periods (1964–71 and 1977–81). His most notable contribution was to establish the first public sector intensive care unit (ICU) in Malaysia in 1968 at the Johor Baru General Hospital (JBGH).^[3][4] This ICU became the inspiration and model for the development of similar units nationwide. In 2010, Malaysia reported availability of over four hundred operational critical care ICU beds across 36 different government hospitals with a 90% bed occupancy rate ^[5]

Sachithanandan and two colleagues (pioneer physician Dr Lim Kee Jin and paediatrician Dr Samuel C.E. Abraham) also established Malaysia’s first postgraduate medical centre at JBGH in 1969. In 1972, Sachithanandan was elected President of the Malaysian Medical Association (the 14th MMA President), the first anaesthetist to hold such office.^[6] He served as Chief of Anaesthesiology in Ipoh General Hospital (1972–77) establishing the state’s first postgraduate medical centre in 1976. As the inaugural faculty Vice Dean (1975–76) and subsequently as Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthesiologists, College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine, Malaysia (1976–77), he was highly influential in developing local specialist training and accreditation criteria which helped lay the foundation for a future local Masters certification in anaesthesia.^[7] Over 450 Malaysian doctors have since successfully completed a masters-certified local postgraduate training programme in anaesthesiology (up till 2008).

Sachithanandan was one of Malaysia's five pioneer consultant anaesthetists (with Drs FR Bhupalan, AS Manavalan, Law Gim Teik and MC Poopathy) who founded the Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists (MSA) in 1963 and subsequently became a distinguished past President of the MSA (1968–69).^[8][9] He was one of the early Members of the Academy of Medicine, Malaysia (1969). In 1980, as one of the original group of eight pioneer doctor-business partners, Sachithanandan was highly instrumental in the clinical design of the Johor Specialist Hospital (JSH), the first private hospital in the state of Johor and the country’s first Kumpulan Perubatan Johor (KPJ) hospital. He never commenced practice at the JSH which opened in early May 1981. From the humble origins of this first hospital, KPJ has emerged to become Malaysia’s leading premier private healthcare provider with an annual turnover in excess of a billion ringgit from a network of 21 private hospitals employing over 800 medical specialists and is listed on the main board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.^[10]

Sachithanandan was awarded a state knighthood, the highly coveted Dato Paduka Mahkota Johor (DPMJ) (Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Crown of Johor) by HRH Sultan Ismail of Johor in 1980 for services to medicine and anaesthesia in particular. He died unexpectedly on 28 May 1981, aged forty-nine following a coronary artery bypass operation at London’s Harley Street Clinic. T.Sachithanandan’s legacy extends far beyond setting up that first ICU. He was an exceptionally competent anaesthesiologist who actively trained and inspired innumerous young specialists and was responsible for much of the early development of clinical anaesthesia and intensive care services nationally and particularly in the two large Malaysian states of Johor and Perak.

T.Sachithanandan served as President of the Johor Cricket Council (1969–71), Vice President of the Malaysian Cricket Association (1969–70) and President of the Johor Baru Junior Chamber International (JCI-Jaycees) in 1969/70. He was actively involved with the Johor Red Crescent Society (as Chief Medical Officer), Area Surgeon of St. Johns Ambulance Brigade of Johor (1965–71) and Chairman of the Johor Blood Bank & Transfusion Service (1966–71).^[11][12]

Sachithanandan married Punithavathy Sinnathuray (sister of Singapore Supreme Court judge T.S.Sinnathuray and renowned Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology T.A.Sinnathuray) in 1965. He is survived by her and their two children both Dublin-trained physicians; an interventional gastroenterologist (daughter Sharmila) and a cardiothoracic surgeon (son Anand).^[13]

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