For Future Doctors: What if ………………….?
First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year 2011. It has been a while since I last posted anything on my “For Future Doctors “series, the last being on “Housemanship Glut”. I have been observing all the comments and enquiries that were posted in my blog regarding my articles. I had many interesting questions by medical students as well as houseofficers regarding their future prospect in medicine. I thought of answering some of these queries’ in this posting.
What if I quit Housemanship?
I had a couple of housemen who asked me what will happen to them if they quit housemanship and what the other options are. According to Medical Act 1971, a medical graduate has to complete 1 year housemanship in order for them to receive their full registration under the Malaysian Medical Council. This has been increased to 2 years since 2008 (officially). I am not sure whether it is legally binding as the Medical Act 1971 has yet to be amended.
What will happen if you quit housemanship? The answer: You will NEVER be able to practise as a doctor anymore. If you quit housemanship, you will not get your full registration which means you will never be able to practise legally. Thus, whatever you have studied over the last 5-6 years is just a waste. It would have been better if you had decided much earlier that medicine is not your field and switch course during your undergraduate period. There are 2 parties to blame here, yourself and your parents.
Basically, you need to find another job or undergo another undergraduate training in another course. One of the person who wanted to quit housemanship asked me whether she can do Master’s programme in preclinical studies such as Physiology (Master’s in Medical Sciences) or Anatomy and subsequently become a lecturer. The answer is yes and no. Of course you can but in order for you to get a place for Master’s programme in Malaysia, you must be in service. You must have undergone at least 3 years of service with full registration and need recommendations from Head of Department as well as good SKT marks before being able to apply for the programme. As such when you quit housemanship, this is NOT possible especially when our Master’s availability is very much limited with high demand. Probably you can try overseas universities but however, the degree offered must be recognised in Malaysia as a postgraduate degree.
Can I join Pharmaceutical companies? Again it is a possibility. In fact, with oversupply of doctors in Malaysia in a few years’ time, we might be seeing a lot of medical graduates joining pharma companies to get a job. Sometimes, pharma companies also need you to have full MMC registration in order to join them.
Can I become a Lecturer by just holding a MBBS? The answer is NO. As I have said before, medicine a very peculiar field. If you are an engineering graduate, can’t find a job, you can be made as a lecturer if the university wants to. Of course an engineering graduate without field work is going to be a useless teacher but who cares in this Bolehland. I have seen so many engineering graduates who have become lecturers the day after they passed out! No wonder we have so many buildings collapsing. I also have seen many engineering graduates becoming school teachers. But for medicine this is not possible. Only doctors with postgraduate degrees are allowed to become lecturers, internationally and of course you will never be accepted as school teachers. But, who knows………………… in Bolehland anything can happen.!
Usually, my general advice to whoever decides not to continue as a doctor is to at least complete your housemanship, whether you like it or not!
What if doctors become jobless in the next 5 years?
To me, this is a distant reality. There were some comments which said that doctors will never become jobless but will become lowly paid. Remember, in Malaysia doctors has to join civil service in order to do your housemanship. Under the Medical Act 1971, housemanship can only be done in government hospitals.
It is a 2 parallel system. After you graduate you need to apply for a post in civil service which is done by the Public Service Commission (SPA). Only when SPA accepts you into the civil service, the Ministry of Health will decide on your posting and place of training. This is where it gets a little bit tricky. If you read my article in MMA written in July 2006: “Future of Government Doctors: Die Another Day!” (http://pagalavan.com/my-mma-articles/july-2006future-of-government-doctors-die-another-day/), there is a limit to the number of post that is available. The number of post in the government sector is NOT limitless.
We are already suffering from an over bloated civil service. We have one of the highest numbers of civil servants in the world, compared to our population. Housemen start at UD41 grade in civil service. Due to recent promotional prospect, all medical officers have been pushed to UD44 grade and thus creating more vacancy in UD41 grade for houseofficers. But this vacancy has a limit and the government is not going to keep increasing the number of post as they need to consider the financial implications.
Thus, there will come a time where medical graduates will become jobless in Malaysia if the current trend continues. Despite a stop in new medical schools, the existing medical schools (total of 32) will continue to increase the number of graduates as it is a money-making business. Doctors will become like lawyers in another few years’ time.
If you don’t believe me, just take a look at nurses. About 10 years ago, the shortage of nurses made headlines in newspapers. The government began to approve private nursing colleges. Now, we have almost 100 over nursing colleges in the country so much so, you can get a place with just 1 credit in your SPM. At the same time, you are also seeing many nurses with no quality at all, can’t speak/write English and totally unemployable. There are so many unemployed nurses in the country at the moment, some even working in petrol stations! These nurses were guaranteed a job in government sector by the private colleges. However, only nurses trained in KKM nursing colleges are given priority to be absorbed into government sector. The rest has to queue up to get a job in civil service. The private sector is also full. The big private hospitals such as KPJ and Pantai have their own nursing colleges and they will absorb their trainees.
So what happen to the rest? Jobless lah………………………..
Next in line: will be medical graduates……………….!
Hi Doc,
Im 4th year medical student in Malaysia. I was once interested doing medicine with all my heart(not sure if this is due to social pressure or what), but along the journey studying in medicine, I’m becoming lost interest in it. Even though i don’t like medicine, but i don’t hate medicine and the most importantly is, i don’t know what else i wanted to do if i were really to quit medicine. i dont have any other particular field that i’m interested with. That’s the only reason why i still proceed with my MBBS.
my interest in medicine started to fade gradually after i entered my clinical years. I love to study how a human functioning and how a disease progress and how to manage illnesses, but I find myself don’t enjoy being in the ward, i don’t like the hospital setting. And I can’t handle the pressure, the rush and the responsibility of a doctor has to bear. However, i love the satisfaction being able to ‘touch’ life, I am thinking of public health as i thought i will has less patient contact.=)
My questions to you doctor are
1. if i’ve already fully complete my housemanship and fully registered under MMA, with my MBBS what other fileds that i could involved with beside being a medical officer?
2.If after fully registered under MMA, and i stop practising medicine for maybe 4-5 years, will that affect my licence and will i still be able to do my clinical practice in the future after taking some years off?
This is the same issues that I always come across. Many students feel that becoming a doctor is sitting in a clinic like GP and seeing ough and cold cases. They will only realise when they step into a ward during thier clinical years and it is too late to turn back if you got no other interest. You are wrong when you say that public health handles less patients. Yes, you may not see ward patients but the outpatient load is high as well as a lot of adminitrative work that you need to do. It is the administrative work that will kill you in the public health sector as well as the antenatal cases.
After getting your full registration with MMC, you can try pharma companies who sometimes appoint medical doctors for certain field. You can’t open a GP clinic unless you complete your compulsory service.
You need to complete your compulsory service of 4 years with the government (2 + 2). If you quit after you complete your compulsory service then there is no issue, you can always come back later to do clinical practise. So far, there is no compulsory CME points in Malaysia to renew your APC unlike other countries. BUT things may change later.
Halo Doc,
I’m 2009 SPM leaver with straight A’s(doesn’t really help
though).At that time,I only had the idea of doing medicine in my mind(not cause of stereotypical Indian family;parents gave me full freedom of chosing my career).But when I asked for opinion from several docs and professionals that I knew,most of them discouraged me from getting into medicine.So I was all confused and applied for a course of not-so-my-interest for my scholar application.To my surprise,I manage to secure JPA scholarship but for a course which I didnt apply.With all the confusion about medical profession in my mind,I accepted the offer and went on to study but I barely lasted 2 months in that course(foundation in buss&management)…due to lack of interest and boredom.So I left that course and uni since JPA refused to put me into some other course.
Ever since leaving behind that course,the idea of doing medicine’s still constantly doing rounds in my mind.But due to recent posts and articles on the possibilities of facing surplus of docs in near future and housemanship glut that Malaysia’s facing right now….I’m wondering should I pursue my dream of becoming a doctor.
So doctor,I’d really hope you could advice me on what could I do next.Should pursue it or look for some other options.Thank you =)
If you ask any doctor, they will give you the same answer: please do some other course. That’s the reason you don’t see many doctors sending their children to do medicine unless the children themselves insist. It all depends on what you want in your life. There are so many courses and oppurtunities out there! I just recently saw a Program Analyst who graduated from Malaysia but currently working and staying in Australia. He is flying all over the world at the age of 34!! In medicine, you would not even have completed your speciality/subspeciality by that age! This is the reason why I ask most students to do A levels, STPM, IB or other internationally recognised Pre-U courses that will enable you to take any course in any university. The current demand is in technical field, actuarist, investment analyst etc etc
Thank you,Doctor for your advice and suggestions.Really appreciate them.They’ll be of great use to me
hello sir
i m ray ,20yrs old frm kl ,currently doin dip in medical lab tech , its goin to be my last semester n as usual we get posted in several hospital for our pratikal ,for me i get posted in HKL
well my worries is all abt my future as i would like to continue doin my degree but i quit confused over what course to choose as there are some limitation as usual financial and etc
my lect and my parents suggested to me to enroll to medicine due to my pointer and below are some courses which where offered to me by my college
Bachelor in Bioinformatics (Hons) KPT/JPS (KR9359) 08/13
Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Hons) KPT/JPS (KR8161) 06/12
Bachelor in Food Service Technology (Hons) KPT/JPS (KR8162) 06/12
Bachelor in Forensic Science (Hons) KPT/JPS (KA8385) 09/14
Bachelor in Nutrition (Hons) KPT/JPS (KA9358) 08/14
Bachelor of Optometry (Hons)
my whole point here ,doc i need advise n guideline i hope you who spare your time and do help me out tq
forget about medicine. Bachelor of forensic science is a promising field but you will be tied to the police department forever and your movements will be very much limited. The other option will be Biomedical science where you have wider options in terms of job opportunities which includes research, lecturer, pharma companies and even international research based companies.
Hello. I have completed my medical degree but I am not interested in doing my housemanship.I am interested in a career as a lecturer in Medical Sciences i.e. Physiology.There are a couple of local private universities which are offering a Masters in Science in Physiology without any requirements for housemanship or work experience.I am strongly considering it.Please advise.’
Thank you.
Yes, there are some universities which do offer this course without housemanship but priority is still gven to people who have completed husemanship. After Master’s in Physiology, you can work as a lecturer for basic science
Hello. I have completed my medical degree but I am not interested in doing my housemanship.I am interested in a career as a lecturer in Medical Sciences i.e. Physiology.There are a couple of local private universities which are offering a Masters in Science in Physiology without any requirements for housemanship or work experience.I am strongly considering it.Please advise.’
Thank you.
Hello Sir. I am Indonesia citizen married to Malaysian. I just recently completed my housemanship in Malaysia ( one month ago). i am very much keen to continue working in government hospital however my next posting as medical officer doesn’t suit my family interest. I am staying in Selangor, my next posting is in Pahang. Currently i am waiting for my appeal to be answered. If my appeal is not granted which is great possibility, i am thinking to apply as GP in a private clinic. Can it be possible? Because i read about your explanation about compulsary service which is 2+2. Is it the same apply to foreigner like me? My full registration from MMC now in progress. What are the procedures to get APC? thank you for your kind answer.
As a foreigner, you can’t work in private sector unless you are a specialist employed by a private hospital under special circumstances. As a PR, you can work in private sector but still need to complete the compulsory service. Thus, you got no choice but to work with MOH under contract basis. With the current glut, you got no choice but to move to where MOH ask you to go. If not they will just terminate your contract. APC is annual practising license which you should apply yearly after receving you full registration.
Dear Dr.
I am a senior MO in government hospital. Started pursuing my Master. But I find myself unable to cope with the work and study together. I am thinking of quitting. What else can I do? I used to have passion in treating my patients. But now, seems the pressure had made me otherwise.
Best Regards.
either you remain as a chronic MO or become a GP. OR you can try some pharma companies who are looking for medical director or clinical research post.
Hello Sir,
Im regular reader of your blog articles,eventhough some may not agree fully to it but i stand firmly that its the truth and fact that matters.I salute to your honest and frank reply to the questions and comments posted.
Sir,I am going to graduate from my medical school in Indonesia in another 1 month, and im under JPA loan.Definitely with the rate of increasing of HO now also before any entrance examination introduced for regardless of overseas graduates, of course it does matters that i join in HO asap.I have passion for medicine and i do realize the workload and also the pressure involved being a doctor and also ready to be bonded with Government for 10 years as the jpa loan is convertible.My question is, i also share a keen interest in another field which i really would like to do a certificate course in Australia for duration of 6 months, not as a carrer enchancement but just to satisfy my passion for it.
1.Will it anyhow affect my HO or getting a job as i would be late 6 months?
2.Also,i have gone through the official website of “kementerian kesehatan”, which states about unpaid leave,is it advisable for me to take that?or just wait till i finish my 2 + 2 civil service to gain this extra 6 months?but then will i able to be still bonded under the 10 years contract to Government?
Im extremely sorry to bother you with this enquiries…Thank you very much sir.
Firstly, I don’t really understand what you are trying to ask. I am not sure what course you are trying to do in 6 months which may not make any difference in your career advancement.
FYI, Housemanship is being given on contract basis since Oct 2011. So, most likely everyone will be given a housemanship post but the government may not guarantee a post after housemanship. However, being a JPA scholar may be an added advantage in getting a permanent civil service job.
Unpaid leave can only be taken after confirmation in service. You can only take 1 month of unpaid leave for every year of service. So, to take 6 months unpaid leave, you need to have done 6 years of service and being confirmed in service.
A very good day dear Sir, I must say that your blog is the best and most resourceful Malaysian medical blog, I really admire your articles. I would like to ask if its possible to be hired as gp in a group practise(im not a shareholder nor co-own the clinic) if i did not complete my compulsory service but already obtained a full registration. Please kindly advise.
MMC will not give you an APC if you have not completed your compulsory service. Thus you may not be able to work anywhere else.
Thank you sir, for your reply. That means even doing locum is not allowed?
No APC means cannot practise!