MALAYSIANS KINI You have probably seen them before: Viral postings on social media peddling dubious pills, ‘miracle’ water, and suspicious ‘medical advice’.

Since June 3 however, there is a new Facebook page aimed at tackling medical myths in Malaysia, as well as misconceptions about the medical community itself.

Dubbed Medical Mythbusters Malaysia (M3), the group is run by 46 members from various medical specialties and now has a modest following of over 53,000 Facebook users.

Among those working behind the scenes at M3 is its co-founder Dr Ahmad Firdaus Mohd Haris, 32, a father of two and a medical officer based at a government clinic in Gopeng.

He shared his story with Malaysiakini in an email interview in August.

I AM JUST REALLY MAD at how much damage pseudoscience can do to my patients and the community as a whole. For me, pseudoscience is a threat to public health.

When I was a house officer, I had to perform a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a patient in a lift. I was on my way to accompany the patient to the dialysis room when he suddenly lost consciousness.

What affected me most was, he was discharged a few days prior to the incident. The patient wanted to seek treatment from an alternative healer for his kidney failure. He had a prior history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

I was the one who pleaded with him not to sign the ‘Discharge at own risk’ form. I tried to counsel the family members to advise him to stay. But he was adamant on his decision.

On that fateful morning when he died, I was the one on call. His body was swollen and he had difficulty in breathing due to fluid overload. His kidney failure was worsening. He could have made it if he had gone for a dialysis sooner.

He just had to listen to a quack doctor.