The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become one of the most disastrous health crises of the present world. The COVID-19 pandemic imposes unprecedented challenges for medical education globally. We describe how the pandemic has disrupted the medical education landscape from the students' perspectives and how medical students from a public higher institution adapted to the changes made to comply with the various government agencies' guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19 while fulfilling the course requirements. The utilisation of numerous innovative online applications enabled the students to participate in numerous teaching and learning activities (TLA) with more flexible scheduling of the classes, participated in a series of online case-based discussions, clinical practice guideline (CPG) discussions, case presentations and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) simulations. Students also joined TLAs conducted by other institutions both locally and abroad. In addition, students had collaborated among themselves and students from other institutions to conduct online peer-teaching activities. Perhaps, the main challenges for online classes were being unable to perform medical procedures and technical issues, commonly the poor internet connectivity. In regard to physical examinations, students performed it on members of their household instead of real patients. Learning medicine from a distance also gave us an opportunity to taste telemedicine which may be the future of medical practice. Students and academics should be adaptive, resourceful and resilient in facing these changes together. The institution needs to look at all stakeholders' perspectives to respond to the changes in the medical education landscape.

‘Klinik Pakar Mata Bergerak’ (KLiP Mobile), translated to specialised ophthalmology mobile clinic is a programme that provides ophthalmology care in the rural community of Negeri Sembilan. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of cataracts and its associated factors among rural adults in Malaysia through an outreach programme of specialised ophthalmology services by KLiP Mobile. This is a cross-sectional study carried out from January 2016 until March 2018 and was conducted in rural areas of all seven districts in the state of Negeri Sembilanvisited by the KLiP Mobile. Universal sampling was applied to all adults attending the mobile clinic. The participants are those who were referred by the government community clinics and walk-in patients. The total number of participants in this study was 1480. The mean (SD) age for the study population was 56 (16.9), by which majority were Malay (n = 1220, 82.4%) and female (n = 809, 54.7%). Most of them received either primary (n = 604, 42.4%) or secondary education (n = 577, 40.5%). The majority of participants were categorized into the low-income group, with a monthly income of less than RM 3,000 (n = 1118, 92.4%). The prevalence of cataracts in the study population was 28.6%. In the multivariate analysis, factors significantly associated with cataracts were being male, having no formal education, race and suffering from hypertension. The prevalence of cataracts in rural areas is considerably high. This study highlights the need for baseline information for future study or as the main reference by the policymakers for policy development related to improving vision and eye care among the populations in Malaysia.

Conventional argon laser causes transient thickening of retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL). The effect of pattern scanning laser (PASCAL) has not been well described. We compared the immediate changes in peripapillary RNFL thickness post-panretinal photocoagulation between conventional argon lasers and PASCAL in patients with diabetic retinopathy changes. A total of 32 subjects were recruited. There were 16 patients in the argon group and 16 patients in PASCAL group. Diabetic patients were recruited from Ophthalmology Clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Complete eye examinations and fundus photographs were performed at baseline prior to laser treatment, and post-laser treatment at two and four months. RNFL thickness was measured using time domain optical coherence tomography. Both groups were comparable with respect to clinical characteristics and demographics. There was no significant difference in average RNFL thickness between the two groups prior to treatment (p= 0.323). RNFL post-laser treatment for patients receiving conventional argon laser remained unchanged with no significant differences in all quadrants at any time-point (two and four months). However, for the PASCAL group, significant thickening occurred at four months for average RNFL and the inferior quadrant (p <0.05). The other quadrants similarly demonstrated increasing thickness at four months but this did not reach statistical significance. Transient RNFL thickening occurs in both conventional and PASCAL laser patients. The PASCAL laser induces a greater increase in RNFL thickness than the argon laser group. Important events, such as laser eye treatments and even type of laser used, are worthy of consideration when evaluating RNFL.