The IHH Healthcare Malaysia CEO finishes his first Sky Race in about 15 minutes.
AT Merdeka 118 on Sunday, Dr Kamal Amzan was not speaking as a sponsor. He was speaking as a finisher.
The Chief Executive Officer of IHH Healthcare Malaysia — title partner of the Sky Race | Merdeka 118 for the next three years, and official medical provider — had just climbed 118 floors and 2,845 steps in about 15 minutes, his first tower run.
For Dr Kamal, that is not a logo on a bib. “I broke my own record,” he said.
“We are trying to get more and more Malaysians to move, more and more Malaysians to get healthy, because we believe that’s the only way to bring medical inflation down, to bring medical costs down and to bring NCDs down,” he said.
“Malaysians are getting sweeter and sweeter with diabetes, higher and higher blood pressure with hypertension, more and more obese with all the good food we have in the country. Once a year, partnering with Merdeka 118 is the minimum we can do.”
Post-pandemic, he said, Malaysians are more willing to go outdoors. “Malaysians want to be active.
“If they are given the right opportunity, the right platform, they will take advantage of it. It is an aspiration for IHH to partner every single Malaysian in their journey towards a better life.”
A tower climb is vertical, with altitude as you rise. IHH deployed about 200 medical personnel across the tower. “We pull them out, hydrate them, make sure they are safe before they go up again.”
His larger point is where healthcare should start. “Healthcare is not just about hospital. Hospitals are not the front door to our healthcare system.
The front door is getting Malaysians healthy — visiting their community doctors, getting their weight in shape, getting diabetes and hypertension well.
Our role is also upstream, in preventive care and screening. If we can prevent diseases early, that’s the cheapest way of healthcare.”
To those who took on more than 2,000 steps: “Thank you for showing up. Thank you for joining IHH in driving an agenda to make Malaysians healthier. We look forward to seeing you again next year.”
Preparation for him, he said, is only half physical. “The bigger challenge is mental. It takes a resilient mindset to cross over. I applaud Malaysians who show up and finish, regardless of how long it took.”
“Leaders should walk the talk. There is no point telling Malaysians to be healthier if I can’t show them. I took it upon myself to show that age does not matter. If you are determined to get to the finishing line, you will. You can.”
“Every year,” he said of coming back. “And I am comforted that I won’t be running alone. More IHH Malaysians will climb with me as we celebrate health and fitness together.”
He pointed to a 13- or 14-year-old on stage who had already broken national records. “That is the new generation we want to build — ambassadors of health and fitness for Malaysians to aspire to be.”