This is another of my many misadventures in life.    

Lithotripter is a Greek word meaning stone crusher. A lithotripter is a non-invasive device that breaks up kidney stones by passing electromagnetic shock waves through a water bath while a patient sits inside. The lithotripter provides a nonsurgical means of pulverizing stones into pieces small enough to be passed naturally in the patient's urine.

How did I buy the first lithotripter in Malaysia?

About 35 years ago, I was touring US. Sitting next to me was a young man and we were chatting along. His name is Dato Dr Tan Hui Meng. He told me that he was a doctor and specialised in urology- a urologist. He was going to Indiana University Hospital for  specialised training. He explained to me how the lithotripter works and after his training he could remove stone from the kidney and from the ureter without surgical operation.

Traditionally, the surgeon would have to cut open the patient’s kidney to remove the stone. The patient would not be able to work for more than a month.

When you have the lithotripsy procedure, you may be given a local anaesthesia for the procedure. You will be pain-free. High-energy shock waves, also called sound waves, guided by x-ray or ultrasound, will pass through your body until they hit the kidney stones. The patient can start to work soon after his kidney stone removal.  

He told me that after his training, Hospital Pantai would buy a lithotripter. But he was not happy because the surgeons would want to continue to remove kidney stones by the traditional method of surgical operation and he was confined to remove stones from the ureter by ureteroscopy as shown in this photo below. Ureter is a small tube connecting the kidney to the outside world. Sometimes, stone flows out from the kidney and  stuck in the ureter and the patient cannot piss.

When I heard that, I offered to buy a lithotripter for him to remove kidneys without open surgery. At that time the cost of a lithotripter was US$ 1 million. I registered a company called Kidstone Sdn Bhd. Dr Tan took 25% share and I took 75% share of the company. We placed our lithotripter in Subang Medical Centre and were paid Rm 500 for every kidney stone removal. After a few years we recovered our capital and began to make profit. We open a share investment account in TA Securities and my nephew was the remisier. He did not follow my instruction to buy and sell shares. He misappropriated all our money. As a result, I lost my money and my friendship with Dato Dr Tan Hui Meng.

On reflection I do not regret because I have done something good to help a lot of people. In fact, when I was on the Board of Ipoh Community Hospital (a Charity Hospital) I initiated the purchase of a lithotripter which help so many patients.  

This is another of my many misadventures in life.