International Healthcare Exhibition

At the MaxFamily exhibition booth, toying around with the staffs. The gent doing the drawing is the very talented Fan.Last Sunday, upon return from Port Dickson, I decided to head out to PWTC as one of the patient support group which I participated opened a booth at the above events. I thought why not. As we only arrived in KL just after 4, I only arrived there after 5. As that was the final day of the exhibit, the vendors were doing their last minute calls and sales as well as some of them already gulung tikar - closing down. Little that I realised that the exhibition were mainly selling health supplements. It was a pleasant surprise as I was always curious as to what these vendors - or at least those who were left - have to say.

Climbing up to the exhibition hallMany choicesTrue to form, there were plenty of health product on offer, some of them misguided than others, such as cure for cancer, complete with patient testimonials. Apparently, the more expensive they were, the more potent they become Some of them were quite interesting, such as special cooking vessels which can reverse diabetes - with a testimonial from a patient who was partially blind due to effect of diabetes to the eye, and after using the product for 6 weeks, she was able to see without glasses. Ah! Bless!

Acupuncture anyone?Another company did a filter-cum-water container which can cure high blood pressure. The testimonials - which featured prominently when you enter these booth - claimed that after drinking water from this vessel, a particular old lady ravaged by stroke unable to move the right side of her body was able to walk after that. It was nothing to do with physiotherapy or control of her other health issues. There were no mention of that. But one thing was really clear. None of the product were claiming - at least in the open - that it can cure cancer. Thank goodness!

Moving on, a chat with a Chinese practitioner was enlightening. He suffers from prostate cancer - limited stage. He had to undergo surgery and radiotherapy, resulting in him being impotent. He had acupuncture and walla! I won’t describe what happen next. Suffice to say that his wife was happy. I also had a test on my foot arch. Failed, and an insole was suggested. I may take them on on that. There were also slimming products and health-related devices - machines for measuring blood pressure, blood sugar, as well as free health screening.

Offering my service at the DiGi counter as one of the DiGi yellow monsterThe healthcare exhibition was not the only exhibition at PWTC that day. Downstairs there was a Careers Fair, ironically while the convocation of The Open University being on in the next hall. I dropped by the careers fair and the gentleman at the door stopped me to ask if I have filled in a questionnaire mainly asking the kind of jobs I was looking for and my qualifications. He also politely asked if I had my CV along. I told him that I was interested in heading towards the DiGi booth to ask if there was an opening for a guy in bright yellow chubby suit. Apparently there was none! Darn!

On my way out, I stumbled across a list of all the graduates during the convocation. There were maybe 5 Indians and 3 Chinese names. The rest were all Malays and almost all were matured students. I spend the rest of the evening figuring out why that was so with Puan Anita? Was it a race thing?  

My Worry About the Printing Press After Visiting The KL 'International' Book Fair

Since I am still on leave, I might as well follow Jimbo's idea of visiting the The KL International Book Fair held at the PWTC. My wife wanted to find some books for the kids while I want to browse some photography books, or maybe some medical statistics text.

We went there after the Friday Prayers. Parked the Kelisa across the road at The Mall. The place was packed even for a Friday afternoon, and I imagine it's going to be madness tomorrow being the weekend. At the Dewan Bahasa stall, one of my former patient shouted my name. She happens to work for Dewan Bahasa and was there to supervise one of the exhibit booth. She actually talked me into doing an interview about careers in Medicine. I did not say no. I left her my contacts.

I split with my wife because she wanted to look at the children section. I went upstairs. Browse around for a good 30 minutes but just can't find anything I wanted. So I just looked at the Haematology texts the rest of the visit.

As you can see, I was bored. And I don't usually feel that way around books. Trust me! It got me thinking. Digital media is a threat to publishers. I heard and rad about in many a forum. There are many newspapers and magazines in the US that has now gone fully online. PC Magazine is now online only. The local dailies usually survive solely on their classifieds. That's where they get their revenue, not so much from sales. And that is also the main reason why people buy newspapers. That revenue has now been cut by Craig's List. I never bother to read newpaper now. I just boot up my computer and click on the RSS feeds. Walla! Perspectives? There are plenty on the net!

Do I need to buy magazines? The answer is yes if it is a photography magazine. I like to see the pictures printed on paper rather on my Mac screen. Latest camera reviews? There is always podcasts. It is free, and they tend to be up-to-date, and I don't have to get to a shop to buy it, or worry if it is out of stock. I can even watch reviews on the net courtesy of YouTube. And I get them when I want and how I want it.

Medical Journals? I subscribe them online! I have already read most of today's article in Blood, all courtesy of RSS feeds and online access. It's a boon for a lecturer like me since there is always 'cut and paste' for charts and graphs for presentation. If you get the journals on paper, you need to scan them for your powerpoint slides.

There was a stall selling dictionary and thesaurus. A salesman tried to convince me to part from my cash. After I politely decline I asked him the last time he used a dictionary. He said last week when he was redoing his CV. Did he use Microsoft Word? He said yes. Then I said he was wasting his time because all he needed was to highlight the word, look at the menu and press Thesaurus. Luckily he was smart enough to keep quiet. With built-in thesaurus, you save time and effort, plus it does not interrupt your train of thought. 

All in all, I was disappointed since I did not get what I came here for. The books on show were either too 'Malaysian' - not enough international flavour - or too technical. I firmly believe the term 'International' in the title is a misnomer. For it to be international, I expect famous authors to come in for book signing. There should be events with celebrities, activities for the kids. Unfortunately there were none today, but maybe because it is yet the weekend. There was not much in the way of discounts either. I can find the books on display should I visit Kinokuniya or Borders. So it's nothing special unfortunately!