Dr G ready to address your health worries online

PETALING JAYA: While his area of expertise may be more associated with sexual health, urologist Dr George Lee (pic) is quick to emphasise that being a “sex doctor” is only 5% of his work.

The Cambridge and Oxford-trained urologist has to deal with health matters ranging from incontinence, kidney stones, sexually transmitted infections, cancers of the prostate, kidney and bladder variety, and even paediatrics.

Years of dealing with these issues has not diminished his sense of humour.

“My colleagues were doctors called Andrew Ball, John Dick and Nigel Bullock. There was no way I could not end up as a urologist after working with them!” joked the clinical associate professor who spent 21 years in the United Kingdom before returning to Malaysia in 2007.

Dr Lee hopes to break some taboos and debunk the myths surrounding men’s sexual health via his weekly Ask Dr G column on The Star Online, which starts this Sunday. Readers can send him their questions at askdrg@thestar.com.my.

“It will be an avenue for men and ladies alike to open up about their personal health worries, without having to raise their hands at a public forum to ask a private question.

“My utopia would be to increase people’s knowledge of men’s health issues in a lighthearted yet informative manner,” he added.

Dr Lee will also answer any personal health questions, including those on sex, on Twitter today via the #AskDrG hashtag.

Afternoon storm brings traffic to a gridlock

By EMBUN MAJID, SHAUN HO and SIMREN KAUR
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

Traffic stopper: Motorcyclists looking at the cars trapped under the broken branch on Jalan Parlimen, Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR: Strong winds during a storm in the Klang Valley caused tree branches to fall on cars along Jalan Parlimen here, causing a traffic gridlock

Ahmad Qusyairi Ahmad Zaini Japar was with his father in a car when they noticed a branch swaying menacingly in the afternoon gale.

The 26-year-old stepped on the accelerator but it was too late – the branch broke, plummeted and punched a hole in the car windscreen.

Ahmad Qusyairi said he was thankful he and his father, Bukit Kayu Hitam assemblyman Datuk Ahmad Zaini Japar, 57, had escaped unhurt despite the damage to his one-year-old Mitsubishi Lancer.

Another car travelling beside Ahmad Qusyairi was also damaged when the top part of the branch dented the roof, bonnet and boot.

Video editor Mohd Shafik Firdaus Mohtar, 24, was driving to work when he said he was jolted by a loud cracking noise which he thought was a thunderclap.

Traffic halted to a stop for about 40 minutes before City Hall workers arrived to remove the branch.

Traffic flow was restored 15 minutes later.

In Langkawi, floods inundated five areas following a downpour which was described as the heaviest in recent times.

The affected areas were Kuah, Kedawang, Ulu Melaka, Ayer Hangat and Pulau Tuba, with flood waters rising to 1.2m high in some places, said Langkawi MP Datuk Nawawi Ahmad.

He added that 165 families were evacuated to two relief centres.

Nawawi said the rain, recorded at 220mm, was heavy compared with a normal downpour which brings 60mm of rain.

He expected the flood waters to recede within two days if the weather was good.

In George Town, visitors to the Esplanade were caught by surprise when big waves splashed water almost as high as the lampposts there.

The big waves had resulted from strong winds coupled with high tide.

200 staff sign up for a four-month ‘Gym Makes Me Fit & Healthy’ programme

By JOSEPH SIPALAN
jsipalan@thestar.com.my

Big support: Khairy cheering for a participant as she works out during the programme in Putrajaya.

PUTRAJAYA: The battle of the bulge has begun at the Youth and Sports Ministry as 200 staff signed up for a four-month programme to get fit.

Participants of the “Gym Makes Me Fit & Healthy 2013” programme will do everything – from working out to eating right – to shave off the pounds and improve their overall fitness between now and November.

“This is a little different from what you see in shows like The Biggest Loser, which focussed solely on losing weight. We want to also make sure their fitness improves,” said minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“Our core business is sports and youths, so we need to set an example for fitness. I told the (ministry) staff that a fit body means a fit mind, and that improves efficiency,” he said yesterday.

Under the programme, 10 selected 1Malaysia gyms across the country will take on 20 participants each and they will compete to see who will be the fittest of the bunch by the end of the four months.

To measure their achievements, each participant will go through the National Physical Fitness Test before starting the programme and again at the end of the programme.

By then, each gym will select a winner who will go on to pit their achievements against winners from other gyms for the overall title at the National Fitness Carnival 2013.

To help them along, they will be given theoretical and practical training.

Academics and nutritionists will help them on what they should and should not eat, among other things, while strength training and fitness coaches will whip them into shape three to four times a week at the gym.

Participation, however, is voluntary, which means that participants will need to take their own initiative to attend gym training and fill out their own logbooks that need to be verified by the appointed gym instructor.

“We are thankful for the help from MySihat (Malaysian Health Promotion Board).

“This will also help the Health Ministry’s efforts in promoting a healthy lifestyle among Malay­sians,” he said.

Olympic champions Germany score six goals in 18 minutes

By S. RAMAGURU

 

Sticky situation: Malaysia’s Tengku Ahmad Tajudin (right) and Germany’s Linus Butt in a duel for the ball during their World Hockey League match at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Baru last night. Germany won 6-0. — LIM CHENG KIAT / The Star

JOHOR BARU: World No. 1 Germany gave a masterclass to whip Malaysia 6-0 in the quarter-finals of the FIH World Hockey League semi-final at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium here last night.

The Germans will meet the South Koreans in the semi-finals tomorrow while Malaysia will play Pakistan in a classification match.

It was such a mismatch that one only had pity for the Malaysians who just didn’t have a clue on how to stop the German juggernaut.

It didn’t take long for the Germans to stamp their class. The Olympic champions gained their first penalty corner in the fourth minute and Christopher Zeller made no mistake with his drag flick.

Then, in a four-minute spell from the eighth minute, the Malaysians went tumbling out as the Germans scored three goals to put the issue beyond the Malaysians.

Linus Butt scored in the eighth minute followed by Moritz Polk and Zeller in the ninth and 12th minutes. From then on, it was a matter of how many goals the Germans would score.

Moritz Furste and Thilo Stralkow-ski added two more goals in the 13th and 18th minutes for a 6-0 first-half lead.

Malaysia played a little better in the second half that yielded no goals from either side. But then the Germans were probably conserving their energy for the semi-final match.

Earlier, South Korea overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Pakistan 4-3 in an exciting last-eight clash.

It was a typical Korean performance. They absorbed everything the Pakistanis threw at them in the early stages of the match and then ran their opponents ragged in the second half.

Pakistan started off strongly and took the lead as early as the fifth minute through Mohamed Waqas. Mohamed Tousiq then made it 2-0 in the 16th minute.

But the game changed once Kang Moon-kweon scored his team’s opening goal in the 30th minute from a penalty corner. He also scored the equaliser in the 39th minute.

Pakistan, however, managed to snatch back the lead with a penalty stroke conversion by Shakeel Abassi in the 43rd minute.

But it didn’t stop the marauding Koreans. Nam Hyun-woo added the third in the 48th minute and Kim Young-jin scored the winner a minute later.

Premier launch for Battersea project

By B.K. Sidhu in London

Power talk: (From left) London Mayor Boris Johnson, Cameron and Najib sharing a light moment after the ground-breaking ceremony of the Battersea Power Station in London.

LONDON: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his British counterpart David Cameron jointly launched the ground-breaking ceremony of the Battersea Power Station project, which will see a Malaysian consortium carrying out a massive redevelopment programme here.

The BPS, which was decommissioned 30 years ago, will be developed in eight phases, with the first phase comprising a block of 866 apartments that will be completed by 2015. So far, 97% of the apartments has been sold.

The Malaysian consortium that is undertaking this mammoth development, which has a gross development value of £8bil (RM38bil), is led by property developer SP Setia Bhd, plantation giant Sime Darby Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund.

This also marks the start of a new era in relationship between both Malaysia and Britain, and it is unprecedented for a Malaysian consortium to undertake such a huge development in one of the world’s biggest financial centres.

In his speech, Najib said London’s extraordinary capacity for reinvention has been widely acknowledged. 

“Soon, a thousand Londoners will call it home. It will echo to the shouts of children playing in the park, and be lit with the steady glow of commerce. After three decades of silence, the BPS is coming to life,’’ Najib said.

He stood next to Cameron in a tent in the middle of the dilapidated BPS to cement a plaque in a ceremony that was witnessed by over 500 guests from all over the world.

Last year, the Malaysian consortium paid £400mil (RM1.92bil) and beat global players, including Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, for the prized assets.

Malaysia has become the second biggest investor in London’s property sector. And last year, Malaysia was the single largest investor in Britain, with individuals and institutions pouring £1.4bil (RM6.7bil) to snap up City of London offices and the BPS.

Ever since the first phase of the BPS was open for sale, local and foreign investors have snapped up the apartments. In fact, the apartments were sold within three days.

It is believed to be the fastest selling property development on record.

“The London property market is turning around and since this is an iconic building, people just want to own a piece of it,’’ said Battersea Power Station Holding Company chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin.

Liew said the second phase of the project will commence by December, which includes restoration works for the iconic chimneys for the BPS.