TUESDAY, 08 OCTOBER – Staff and students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) welcome the initiative by this EcoCampus university in creating an electronic waste (e-Waste) disposal within the university.

A lecturer from the Science and Technology Preparatory Centre (PPST), Sitty Nur Syafa Bakri when met said, the initiative was timely to increase the awareness among UMS staff and students to not take lightly electronic wastes that can leave a negative impact on UMS community.

Assistant Administrative Officer of the School of International Tropical Forestry, Kenny Uwai said that the move was proper to ensure electronic wastes in the university would be managed in an orderly and systematic way.

Meanwhile, PPST student, Scott Carlton Zerah told Chancellery Media that the existence of e-Waste in UMS was worthwhile and able to prevent pollution that can be detrimental to health.

To ensure the success of the programme, UMS will place recycle bins for e-Waste disposals at strategic places in each school and will be collected by licensed companies periodically.

The launching ceremony was done by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun at UMS Library Auditorium this morning. – FL

 

By Salbinous Saribun

   
                                                                                                                                                                   Chancellery Department

TUESDAY, 08 OCTOBER – Centre For the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning (PPIB), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Welfare and Recreation Club (KARIB) Committee Members took the initiative to collect contributions throughout October to be channelled to the fire victims of Kg. Numbak.

The Chairman of KARIB, Budi Anto Mohd Tamring said, contributions received were foodstuff and clothing which were sent through Media Division, Chancellery Department UMS to the Kg. Numbak fire victims who are now taking shelter at the Menggatal Community Hall.

“We hope to continue with the efforts of collecting contributions especially from staff of PPIB,” he said when handing over the contributions to the Dean of PPIB, Prof. Dr. Vincent Pang.

The contributions also involved PPIB staff of Labuan International Campus and Sandakan branch. – FL

 
By PPIB and Salbinous Saribun
Photo: Rudie Adie Razak, PPIB

 
                                                                                                             Chancellery Department

MONDAY, 07 OCTOBER – About 25 students from The School of Psychology and Social Work (SPKS) Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) exercised their duty in social work with the Kg. Numbak fire victims.

Moral support and psychological help from the students and staff of SPKS helped eased the victims’ burden who are now placed at the Menggatal Community Hall as a temporary shelter.

A student who only wanted to be known as Nur said, even though the contributions might not be enough but she and her course mates wanted to share the burden suffered by the fire victims.

“We hope that all staff and students of SPKS could be with us today and empathise with the victims who clearly need our assistance besides receiving help in the form of goods,” she said.

When asked on the aid given, Nur said that in doing social work we should not expect anything in return or being appreciated, but that would be the measure of sincerity.

The fire which occurred last Tuesday had left 74 families homeless and now placed at the Menggatal Community Hall. - FL

 

By Faezah Mohamad Dun

 

  Chancellery Department

MONDAY, 07 OCTOBER - Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Universiti Malaya Centre on Addiction Sciences (UMCAS), and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kota Kinabalu (QEH) had jointly organised The Sabah Tobacco Control Symposium at the School of Medicine (SPU), UMS today.

The symposium, which featured more than 100 people had been officiated by the Dean of SPU, Prof. Dr. D. Kamarudin D. Mudin.

In his speech he said, the aim of this symposium was to introduce tobacco control activities to as many health care providers in Sabah and also to those interested in tobacco control.

The scientific content was aimed to provide an introduction to the science of tobacco control and also recent local and international updates. This symposium had been equally divided in content between tobacco prevention which included policy development, and tobacco cessation.

“The latter is least often emphasised due to the lack of local experts within Malaysia. The recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2011 found that only 52.6% of patients who visited a health care provider were advised to quit. This figure needs to be improved and done quickly,” he added.

Dr. Kamarudin said, Malaysia through the Ministry of Health had provided nearly 300 quit clinics throughout the country.

He also informed that treatment were subsidised to those who attended these clinics which were conducted by medical doctors.

GATS identified current rates of smoking among Malaysians to be 23.1% with 43.9% being male from an overall 4.3 million Malaysians who smoked tobacco daily.

 

By Salbinous Saribun
Photo by Zulfadlee Nasyir, SPU