At this old Alor Setar clinic, a quieter memory of Hasmah

Long before Dr Hasmah Ali became one of Malaysia’s best-known public figures, her name was already part of a small clinic in Alor Setar.

Maha Klinik opened in Pekan Melayu in 1957, a year after Hasmah married former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. According to longtime staff member Mercy Samuel, who has worked there for nearly 50 years, the clinic’s name was formed by combining theirs: Mahathir and Hasmah.

“They met while studying together in Singapore. After they completed their studies and married, Tun Dr Mahathir decided to leave public service to open his own clinic,” Samuel, 69, told Bernama.

Maha Klinik relocated to Jalan Sultan Badlishah in 1979, after Mahathir had handed over its day-to-day running. Yet it remained part of the couple’s connection to Alor Setar.

Whenever they returned to the city, they would drop by and ask after the staff. During Ramadan, clinic employees were invited to break fast with them at the home of one of their relatives.

Those are among the memories Samuel now holds particularly close following Hasmah’s death on Monday. She said Hasmah was remembered not simply as the wife of a former prime minister but as someone warm, humble and attentive to the people around her.

Hasmah’s own medical career was substantial: she was among Malaysia’s early Malay women doctors and became closely associated with public-health work, particularly maternal and child health, immunisation and the welfare of rural communities.

Medical officer Dr Reshampreet Kaur said their legacy still forms part of how staff think about the clinic today. She recalled that Hasmah and Mahathir would travel to rural communities to treat those who had limited access to medical care.

“From the very beginning, if Tun Dr Mahathir saw someone struggling come to the clinic, he would not charge them or would charge very little. This practice of low fees is something we have kept to this day,” she shared.

For many, Maha Klinik itself is a familiar part of Alor Setar. Some visitors, Reshampreet noted, still stop by simply to photograph the signboard bearing the name that has been connected with the former prime minister and first lady for close to 70 years.

But for those who have worked for decades behind that signboard, its meaning is much more personal.

It recalls the early years of two doctors who began their married life long before either became a national figure – and a woman whose own contribution to medicine and public health would eventually extend far beyond the clinic.

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