I look back with nostalgia to the day we launched the Myanmar Journal of Current Medical Practice (MJCMP) in October 1996. Dr. Thein Aung, Professor of Pediatrics, had called me, Professor Maung Maung Sein, and Dr. U Thaung – three recent retirees: a physician, a surgeon and a public health worker, to a meeting where he told us of his intention to publish a medical journal and to help him do so. We three readily agreed, our only stipulation being that it should be a non- profit enterprise for the benefit of the medical profession in Myanmar.We must here place on record the vision, magnanimity and ‘cetana’ shown by Dr.Thein Aung, who as proprietor, took on the financial cost and administrative burden of publishing this Journal which is a not-for-profit enterprise for the benefit of the medical profession, even though it was then unknown whether it will be financially self-sustaining or not.The first Editorial Board comprised of :
- Prof. U Aung Than Batu, Retired Director-General, Department of Medical Research
- Prof. U Maung Maung Sein, Retired Director-General, Department of of Health Manpower, Ministry of Health
- Prof. Daw Khin Nyunt, Retired Professor/Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Medicine 1, Department of Health Manpower, Ministry of Health
- Dr. U Thaung, Retired Director (Disease Control), Department of Health, Ministry of Health
Editorial Secretary – Dr. U Thaung
We must pay contribute to Dr. U Thaung who toiled for many years as the key member of the Editorial Board and Editorial Secretary to make this journal a success. His early demise was a great loss to the Journal.
I drafted the tentative aims of the journal which all four unanimously agreed to adopt as the declared Aims of MJCMP and publish as the Editorial in the first issue. I think it is still an excellent set of Aims for us and expresses our aspirations very well. It is reproduced below for the record.
We also deliberated and chose the name “The Myanmar Journal of Current Medical Practice” in order to emphasize our intention of promoting medical practice and exchanging information between medical practitioners about what they are practicing, how, and why. As mentioned in the Editorial then, our Aims were lofty, idealistic and high but we believed that there was a need for such a journal and that its publication will itself create a demand – “a single step may begin the journey of a thousand miles.”
During twenty years of progress brought about by successive Editorial Advisory Committees comprising senior editors and professionals, successive Editorial Boards and key Editorial Secretaries, together with knowledgeable contributors, the appearance of the Journal as well as the contents improved so that it became one of the exemplary medical journals in the country. ItwastheonlyindependentJournaluntilrecently. Others were, at that time, publications of organizations and associations somehowconnected to appointed officials of the health authorities.
However, things unexpectedly changed for the worse as a result partly of a change in management and also because Information Technology (IT) and the Internet had progressed so much, in such a way, that medical journals as published previously had rapidly become redundant. The MJCMP could not be published since July 2015 for three years. It was nearly dead. But we the Editorial Advisory Committee could not let it die. We have decided to revive it in a new format (as a new edition) with a difference in emphasis of its Aims, and especially targeted at readers and contributors at the periphery, starting in October 2018 onwards. We think there is a niche for such a journal. The present issue, July 2018, volume 20, No. 1 will be the last issue with the old format. So, after looking back with nostalgia and joy for things accomplished and regret for things undone or wrongly done, we look forward to the future with hope, dedication and determination.
Gentle Reminder
This will be the last issue of MJCMP in the current format. Subsequent issues will be published in a new format starting with the October 2018 issue. Original articles will no longer be accepted. The new format will include the revised “Suggestions to Authors”.
The Myanmar Journal of Current Medical Practice is a professional medical and healthsciences journal which will be publishing materials relevant to health care in the Union of Myanmar.
The main aim of the Journal is to disseminate medical knowledge, scientific and technological information, and give practical guidance to medical practitioners, especially at the primary and secondary levels of healthcare not only to help them develop sound management skills and attitudes but also to improve the quality of medical practice and healthcare in Myanmar. The journal will serve as a forum for the exchange of experience in healthcare practice, thereby mobilizing the potential knowledge and wide experience of the medical profession from across the spectrum of medicine in Myanmar.
The journal aims to become an instrument of self- learning and continuing education for the medical profession. It is also intended that the journal will be a source of learning for those undergoing training at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and it is hoped that the material in the journal would especially encourage critical analysis and rational decision-making during their professional practice.
We realize that this is a lofty and idealistic statement of intentions but we believe that there is an unfulfilled need for such a journal and that its publication will itself create a widening demand. Not all the aims will be achieved immediately but “a single step may begin the journey of a thousand miles”.
Our strategic approach will be to invite contributions from all those interested and willing as well as to commission highly qualified persons having wide experience in the health profession and allied fields, to write and comment on specially designated topics of current interest and relevance to the aims of the Journal.
The Journal will contain regular and occasional features such as: editorials expressing our opinion on various topics; leading articles and reviews on major subjects of current practical importance; short articles, case-reports, photo-reports; abstracts of articles from other publications-with commentaries; reports, news and information about new drugs, methods, technologies and devices-with commentaries; questions from readers and answers; medical news; and special supplements for special purposes and occasions. We have been made to understand by the publisher that although the publication of the journal is a non-profit, private enterprise for the general good of the medical profession in Myanmar, it will run on sound business principles-flexible and efficient in operation to suit the needs of clients and financially self- sustaining in developing and achieving aims. This is highly commendable.
We solicit the support and co-operation of the medical professionals as well as others involved and interested in the development of the medical profession in Myanmar.
To our potential readers we offer our services with “Cetana”. We solicit your co-operation to make this journal a success in satisfying your needs for the knowledge and information that will directly help you in the practice of medicine in Myanmar and for the successful realization of our aims which we hope and believe are also yours.
