National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM)

Since its foundation in 1979, the National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM) has played a definitive role in the development of cardiology and cardiovascular care in Malaysia. NHAM has been a platform for all people who work in various areas in cardiology in Malaysia coming together to further their common cause. The promulgation and development of cardiology in Malaysia, in terms of education and awareness has always been the central focus of NHAM members.

NHAM has also played an influential role in shaping and forming the cardiology landscape in the country. This would have necessitated NHAM, as an organisation working through its members, sitting on boards which presided over healthcare policies and clinical practice guidelines in Malaysia.

Today, NHAM has grown to about 1000 members and continues in its leadership role in the country, in particular, in the field of medical education through our well-established annual conferences and courses. We have also forged strong ties with our regional ASEAN neighbours, and currently helm the permanent secretariat office for the Asean Federation of Cardiology (AFC).

Our history

• The history of the National Heart Association is also the history of the growth and development of cardiology as a specialty in the country. The latter is closely associated with improvements in the socio-economic standards of the population and increased public demand for a better service for the community.
• Among the several factors that prompted the growth of cardiology and became the stimulus for the start of NHAM are the growth and development of private medicine, the increasing influence of American Cardiology and the discovery and practice of selective coronary angiography, CABG surgery, and later coronary angioplasty.
• Dr Nik Zainal who arrived as a trained cardiologist in 1977 organized the first fully equipped cardiac catheterization laboratory at General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. CABG surgery then commenced in 1982. The challenges he faced were explained in his Sukaman Lecture in 1994.