Long-time Mount Druitt GP Dr Teng-Kiong Kek passed away earlier this year, several months after retiring.
Last month, federal MP Ed Husic took the opportunity to tell federal parliament about Western Sydney GP Dr Teng-Kiok Kek, who died in January this year.
“Like many devoted GPs in our community, Dr Kek could have easily earned far more in other parts of Sydney, but he was determined to remain in Mount Druitt serving the community that needed him the most and the people he loved,” Mr Husic said.
We at The Medical Republic agree that Dr Kek’s is a story worth telling.
For a start, he racked up an impressive 42 years at the Mt Druitt Medical Centre before his retirement in 2025.
Having emigrated from Malysia to study medicine in Perth, Dr Kek was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease while still at university.
“Yet in the face of that, his resolve never faltered,” Mr Husic said.
“Remarkably, he sat his final medical exams and went straight into a kidney transplant. That determination would define the rest of his life.”
Dr Kek’s colleague, Dr Kean-Seng Lim, reflected on his friend’s legacy.
“He had generations of patients who grew up with him and grew old with him as well,” Dr Lim told The Medical Republic.
“These patients are still with us here in our practice now, but he in many ways provided a model of what are the key attributes of good general practice.
“There was trust. There was that mutual relationship and trust with his patients and also trust of his patients.
“[He also became] part of the community, and that is the broader community as well as the community of patients that were his patients and patients at this medical practice.
“He provided that longitudinal care across multiple generations, and as we evolved as a practice, and as we took on new things and new projects, he was able to continue growing with it and continue evolving and adapting and doing what he did throughout his professional lifetime.”
When Dr Kek did retire in September 2025 due to ill health, Dr Lim said it was with reluctance.
“He never really wanted to retire,” Dr Lim said.
“He would always have been happy to keep working, and he was not in need to continue to work from a financial perspective, it was just because this was what he enjoyed.
“… If what you want to do is to work, because that gives your life meaning, and you can keep doing that until the last of your life, then that’s not too bad a life.
“It means you’ve actually managed to achieve what you wanted to achieve with your life.
“[Dr Kek] actually got to do what he wanted to do, which is keep working until almost the end.”
