There seem to be conflicting statements in the newspapers about this jobless pharmacy issue. But if you read carefully between the lines, you will realise that the government is running out of post. The SBPA was only introduced in December 2011 but majority of the pharmacist who made the complains applied for job in August 2011 etc. So, why the long delay ?
In Oct 2011, I wrote this https://pagalavan.com/2011/10/06/i-told-you-so/ when the government reduced the compulsory service of pharmacist from 4 years to 2 years. By that time, the pharmacist post in civil service was already almost 90% full. Thus, the government felt that by reducing the compulsory service, many will resign from civil service and this will create more vacant post.
If you see our Minister’s response, he said that the government may soon allow pharmacist to do their compulsory service in private sector. What does that mean? It indirectly tells us that the post in civil service is almost full. I also doubt the figure provided by Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society’s president that we are producing only 1000 pharmacist per year. I think it is much higher than that. If each public university produces 200 students, it is already be more than 1000/year!!
However, I feel there will be a lot of vacancies in private sector once the 1Care system is introduced. Based on my entry https://pagalavan.com/2012/02/03/for-future-doctors-the-change-is-coming-part-2/, many community pharmacies will be needed and created to dispense medication under the 1Care system. This will definitely create more job opportunities. Probably that is the reason why the government is liberalising the training system as mentioned by our great health minister.
Who knows, maybe they might do the same for doctors soon. Unfortunately I don’t think private hospitals will be interested in employing housemen. Consultants are self-employed anyway!
Pharmacy grads will have jobs, minister says
“Lately, the bit of delay of employing our pharmacists into our system is due to the new SBPA that has been deferred,” Liow (picture) said.
He assured the new pharmacists they will be recruited as soon as possible.
Liow said the government was working to bridge the public-private healthcare divide and will soon be able to offer more jobs to new pharmacy graduates.
“To say that we don’t have enough positions to cater is not true,” Liow said, responding to recent reports highlighting pharmacy graduates who claim they have been jobless as far back as eight months ago.
“In fact we are liberalising our policy, we would like to allow our pharmacists to work either in government or private (sectors),” he told reporters following the launch of a pharmaceutical industry fact here.
He said his ministry had even liberated attachment conditions for fresh graduates and was taking in more pharmacy graduates annually.
“We are engaging and we are employing more pharmacists from year to year,” the minister said.
Liow said that previously, pharmacy graduates were required to train a year and practise another three years at public hospitals in order to obtain their practising licence. The scheme was known as one-plus-three.
However, in October last year, the three-year attachment condition was slashed to only one year, meaning pharmacy graduates only needed to train a year and practise another year to win their practising licence.
The MCA deputy president also pointed out that pharmacists were no longer limited to train in public hospitals and clinics.
“We allow pharmacists to have compulsory training in private training, not only in government sector,” he said.
“They are allowed training in pharmaceutical companies. So this is the kind of flexibility that we have introduced,” he added.
An oversupply of potential recruits coupled with a shortage of pharmacy-related positions were initially blamed for the lack of vacancies leading to disgruntlement among the new pharmacy graduates, according to media reports.
However, graduates now believe their applications for placement were unsuccessful due to the review of the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA), which Liow acknowledged today.
He said, “It is due to the salary scale that is under review now, but we will continue to engage them at the old salary scale because the SBPA is under review now.”
Bitter pill for pharmacy grads
By REGINA LEE regina@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: It is not just nurses who are finding it hard to get job placement in public hospitals pharmacy graduates are also in a similar quandary. However, unlike the job shortage for nurses, which was blamed on oversupply and not meeting market demands, pharmacy graduates believe that their applications for placement were unsuccessful due to issues connected with the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA). Pharmacy graduates have to serve a mandatory training placement at public hospitals before they can obtain a practising licence. The Health Ministry’s previous requirement was a one-year training and three-year attachment stint in public hospitals.
Last October, the three-year attachment condition was slashed to one. Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the SBPA should not have any effect on the intake of pharmacy graduates for training purposes.
“This cannot be happening. They shouldn’t be treated like that and I sympathise with their plight,” he said, adding that he would raise the matter with ministry officials. Health Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman pledged to resolve the problem by Feb 24. “Pharmacists, doctors and dentists must do compulsory government service.
“The problem (of not getting placements) has nothing to do with the allocation of places in public hospitals or the salary scheme,” he said, adding that he would meet the PSD today to discuss the issue. Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Datuk Nancy Ho said there were about 8,900 registered pharmacists in the country, with a pharmacy-patient ratio of 1:3,200.
“This is still far from the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of one pharmacist for every 2,000 people,” she said, adding that almost 1,000 pharmacy graduates were being churned out each year.
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Monday February 13, 2012
Their dream of becoming a pharmacist remains distant
PETALING JAYA: After six years of studying, Sara had been eager to fulfil her life-long dream of becoming a pharmacist. But that dream remains distant — she has been unemployed over the past eight months.
She is among possibly hundreds of other pharmacy graduates in the same boat. A graduate of Indonesia’s Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sara (not her real name) said her 11 coursemates had also applied for their one-year public hospital training stint last August. In a quandary: Many pharmacy graduates have applied for a training stint in public hospitals but have yet to get placement.
“We were told by our seniors that it would only take about a month to get a placement in a public hospital. “I was called for an interview at the end of August and I am still waiting for news,” she told The Star.
Each time she called the Public Service Department (PSD), she was told that the delay was due to the review of the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA). “While waiting, I worked at a private pharmacy to gain some experience. But I resigned after just one month when told that the offer letter would be issued anytime,’’ she lamented. John, another pharmacy graduate, said he had been trying to get a placement for his one-year training after graduating from Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde last July. Like Sara, he applied for his training in August and thought that he would land a placement in a public hospital by November. “Most companies would want their part-timers to commit for at least two months. If I had known that I would be unemployed for more than six months, I would have definitely found a job,” he said, adding that up to 40 graduates from his batch had also not got placements. “When we studied to become pharmacists, people were always saying that there was a shortage in the field. But it has been crazy just waiting for a placement,’’ he added.
Pagalavan's Avatar 
Thank u for highlighting, now the over supply anyway the people in position do not seem to understand the basic or there are being fed the wrong info, the supply chain should always be short supplied then only they can create a demand,anyway to me this is a good problem as I always believe that in a crisis lies the solution.
You see sir, today more emphasis is placed on the pharmacist to do clinical work in the hospital it is ok but as a pharmacist they should be the master in all points related to the manufacture of a drug eg what is ALU2foil what are the hygroscopic drugs, why a drug is coated etc so this is the best time to make it compulsory for factory posting for all fresh graduates.
If the relevant authorities could make it mandatory for these graduates to do a compulsory posting with the manufacturing groups then we can say that the graduates that come after their posting have gone through all the disciplines.,do you know who mans the manufacturing plants in Malaysia Form 5 students and I tell you they are doing a very good job ,if we see in India a min requirement to work in a manufacturing area is a diploma in Pharmacy.
Hi doctor,
I am a fresh MBBS graduate from overseas. I was already interviewed by SPA about 1month ago. However, the offer letter has not arrived. After multiple attempts at contacting them, my friends and I have finally found out that due to SBPA issues, offer letter for medicine, pharmacy and dentistry will also be delayed for what sounds like another month. Do you know any more information about this problem? Thank you.
1 month is still very short. It use to take 2-3 months before. If SBPA is the issue , then all civil service employees will be affected, not just medicine, dentistry and pharmacy alone. I feel SBPA is just part of the problem. You will get your post sooner or later, however, I heard housmenship is being given on contract basis now.
Hi Doctor,
I am a SPM leaver and thinking of doing pharmacy.. So, is it true about the jobless pharmacist? Some said so, but some said that was just a lie.. Is there any problem for future pharmacists to get a job later on? Should i go on with it or change to another course? Hope to get your reply soon. Thank You!
As I said, there is still a lot of vacancy in private sector but for government sector, it is almost full. The 1Care system later will create more vacancy for pharmacy in private sector.
Dr Pagal..I as GP voice I hope they dont put their burden on us..why they producing pharmacist thru uncontrolled growing college and gave PTPTN loan that is we all known benefit GOV and 1 Care is the way to resolve things out…I am still hold to my principle Dr have rights to dispense medicine…I READ with interest “Generic medicine just as good” (The Star, Feb 2) which stated that doctors tend to have limited knowledge of medicine because pharmacy is only studied for one year in medical school.
Qualified doctors, by law, need to be accredited and registered to practise medicine. Yes, I did study pharmacy only for one year in the pre-clinical part of my medical course, but I studied three years as an undergraduate, four years post graduate, and life-long, on-going continuous education on therapeutics, which is the science and art of using medicine, i.e. what medicine to use for each condition, including dosage, side effects and drug interactions.
Hi, Im a senior pharmacist in a government hospital. When we heard of the service reduction from 4 years (1+3) to 2 years (1+1), we were quite shocked! 2 years is just too short a time to learn anything!! Currently I’m also involved in the training of house pharmacists (provisionally registered ones), and trust me, the knowledge level is so low that my colleagues and I dont even know where to start teaching! Releasing these pharmacists into the private sector where profit trumps over ethics, with only 2 years of experience is a horrifying thought indeed! I have housepharmacists from Indonesian universities who cannot give me examples of beta lactam antibiotics and her excuse was that in her uni, the emphasis was on industrial (i.e. quality control etc). Unacceptable!
haha, I thought only medical doctors are deteriorating in quality but pharmacist too……………….
I read the senior pharmacist comment on the quality of pharmacy graduates sir the problem is not with the student but with the system the govt sends students to sub std colleges then this is what you get.
Correction-
the govt sends “sub std” student to “sub std” colleges
A good day to all, this is with regard to the caption sub std students to sub std colleges.
I beg to differ in the 1st point to me there is no such thing as a sub std student a student is a student and that to university student the problem lies in the education system in our country they are spoon fed from std 1 right up to form 6 that is disaster we still follow the English system of education where a student is judge on the 3hrs of theory paper he/she sits for in SPM/STPM.
i SAY THIS IS WRONG WE SHOULD CHANGE
That is what the new world order says CHANGE OR BE CHANGED.I have come across of students and graduates who cannot differentiate between Hygroscopic products & non hygroscopic products
In today’s world the teacher is only a facilitator the balance should be done by the students by way of going to the net & getting the ans & not to use the net for facebooking for 80% of the time
The student should realize that he/she is been given a 2nd chance
On the note of sub std colleges it is the govt to be blamed as there are not enough lecturers to teach so they should put a plan in place so that if a college were to start a new course it should have the required professionals to man the course as per the MQA requirements if not do not give them the license.
so you mean letting those who barely pass SPM enrolling in med school is right?
I believe all students can learn something that will be useful – you go to different field depending on what you are strong at, and they can probably be screened through a standardized exam (theoratically SPM/STPM). It is true that exams are only 3 hours, but probably that is how we judge trainees in medical field – if you can’t function under stress of an exam, how can you function if patient is in a critical condition?
The fact is, there is lesser and lesser time as your progress further in your education. At a glance what we learn in secondary school might not be that important – but think again, where did you first learn problem solving, reading graphs, formulating a protocol for an experiment etc etc? It is not even unheard of some student starting med school who cant even speak English or does not know the basic human anatomy is. What do you call these group of students?
I agree with what you say regarding teacher being a facilitator – but they must be trained. Information from internet is so easilly obtainable nowadays – but definitely there are more incorrect information online compare to the accurate ones. That is probably the biggest downside of internet esp if the one guiding does not even know how to differentiate what is right from wrong.
Again, I don’t think 3 hour exam is an accurate way to judge one student, but it is at least a good screening tool to pick out students that may face more difficulty in a challenging course, especially the massive drop in standard of SPM where you get basically get an A1 by scoring 30-40s (which getting B/Cs do mean that the student is pretty weak). We all know there are med schools that take student who get only Bs and Cs in their exam – is that not enrolling sub-standard student? We all know that government send fair amount of students with weak academic performance to oversea for all sort of courses – is that not again the same situation?
I believe the problem is not just at university level – but from the most basic level. Ultimately, government is the one that is to be blamed of course =).. But then, it is easiest to blame – have we done anything to improve the education level of our future generations – showing good example at home, spending time reading to your child and revising schoolwork, spending a little more time understanding their interest, where would be the best place that offer the course they want to do, understanding the current situation where there are overflow of low quality work force in which profession. If all these can be done, even without changing the government, these problem will not worsen.
Hi Sir Pagalavan, you did mention that Housemanship are given on contract basis now.can I know the duration of the contract?thanks
2 years.
halo sir,
what is the basic salary for pharmacist??
RM 200 less than a doctor and also no critical allowance.
I laughed a lot after this issue came out. During my uni time, I expressed my concern to a dean of school of pharmacy, I told her that the uni already took a big number of undergrad bpharm students (200+ for one batch!!). she said there’s no worry, our country is still lack of pharmacist. it was 2 years ago. now i feel pity towards my fellow juniors, they need to compete for jobs after they graduate soon. thanks a lot to the uni policymakers for the oversupply now. i hope they’re enjoying their reputation.
I 100% support U.tHE POSITION OF A PHARMACIST today is on par with an Optometrist in this country what a sad price we pay for our health care,the people who make it work are in slumber & allowing the allied health science to rot & I bet U we are going very2 fast downhill.
The Pharmacist was suppose to take over the dispensing of drugs Health Ministers come & go we are about 50+ yrs old as a nation and still this is not in place as a matter of fact, I would suggest, if it is that difficult to implement this please do away with the Pharmacy degree programme, instead we see today the pharmacy graduates doing clinical pharmacy that is running away from your prime job.If we go into that field them a Doc with MRCP do what.
This is also same in the case of an optometrist ,dont you think the eye is the most important organ but look what is the health Ministry doing allowing people without any knowledge of the subject to dispense spectacle & contact lens(pasar Malam) this is called heights of heights.
If the govt is serious about this I would suggest that they start straight away with the implemtation of these graduates into the retail outlets also make it compulsory to sent them to factory posting compulsory 2 years.
Hi fellow readers, this I must say is an interesting read. I would like to find a solution to the lack of pharmacist in the private sector.
My organisation has been looking high and low to hire pharmacist but sadly there aren’t any in the market. The private sector badly needs pharmacist. No we don’t need half baked pharmacist, if they need 4 years of experience so be it. As a service provider and consumer ourselves we have a level of quality to uphold and further improve.
It isn’t about losing business, it about losing the opportunity to help a patient in need.
What should my organisation do to get more pharmacist? We are already paying our pharmacist well and giving leaves and benefits, even sales incentives. We have tried placing classifieds in newpapers, online forums and advertising on facebook. How else can we reach to pharmacist out there?
Hi fellow readers, this I must say is an interesting read. I would like to find a solution to the lack of pharmacist in the private sector.
My organisation has been looking high and low to hire pharmacist but sadly there aren’t any in the market. The private sector badly needs pharmacist. No we don’t need half baked pharmacist, if they need 4 years of experience so be it. As a service provider and consumer ourselves we have a level of quality to uphold and further improve.
It isn’t about losing business, it about losing the opportunity to help a patient in need.
What should my organisation do to get more pharmacist? We are already paying our pharmacist well and giving leaves and benefits, even sales incentives. We have tried placing classifieds in newpapers, online forums and advertising on facebook. How else can we reach to pharmacist out there?
can anybody state the exact salary for a pharmacist in malaysia??i need to compare its income in public sector and private sector!
you cane check over here
of course this does not include the housing allowance 250, elaun kidmat awam 300 and cola allowance 100-300 which should add about Rm 800. If I am not mistaken, pharmacist do not get critical allowance anymore.
still have le critical allowance
hello sir. do you think doing a pharmacy degree is worth and can we make money according to the latest development of the country ?
Nothing is guaranteed. Do what you are interested in.
Actually pharmacy was not my main focus. Medicine was always what I wanted to do. But from what i have been hearing and reading these past few months, its been very disappointing. I really want to be a doctor but since the job opportunities for doctors are getting thinner, its worrying me. What is your opinion doctor ?
Why worry about job opportunities? Do a person who is doing engineering worries about it ? Nothing is guaranteed in the future. The only problem with medicine is the fact that you can’t work anywhere else with your degree if it is not recognised. Furthermore, a lot of training and licensing is involved. Never do medicine for wrong reasons. Do what your are interested and what your pre-U course allows you to do.
Sir what are the wrong reasons are you referring to ?
Please read this blog from A to Z and you will know what I am talking about. If your passion is in medicine than why worry about job?
Paga,
I think you should create a FAQs section in this blog.
People keep asking the same question again & again.
The generation XYZ nowadays aspect everything in an instant.
They are used to be spoon fed by our education system!
For once i will have to disagree with you. They were not spoon fed.
They were BREAST FED !!!
Hi, Dr.Pagalavan, I am currently a sem 4 pharmacy students from IMU. May I know how you feel about the job market of pharmacy in Malaysia? is that really true that housemenship in government hospital is given based on 2 years contract? That means I have to leave government hospital after 2 years service? Where did you got such info?
Job market for pharmacy in private sector is still good. But government sector is rather saturated. However you still need to do internship in government hospital
So, how do the internship in hospital to take place if the government hospital get more saturated? is there true 2 years contract basis are implemented?
Maybe!
Hi, Dr. Paga. Is it true that the government hospital gave the contract basis of two years for all pharmacist grad students? How if after the two years training in government hospital and they wish to continue in government sector, do they still need to apply again and wait for few months?
I have not heard anything concrete yet but it is inevitable. Pharmacist post was already reaching 85% filling rate almost 3 years ago. Eventually, Housemanship will also be given on contract basis. Yes, after your compulsory service of 2 years, you need to apply for a job in civil service.No guarantee you will get a job if there is no vacancy
hi Dr Pagavalan. it’s nice to read yout blog . since i ve read and heard many things about pharmacist saturation, i would like to ask for your opinion . im a Diploma in Pharmmacy graduate from UITM and currently waiting for degree intake .should i wait for the BPharm or just pursue ACCA since i am also interested in accounting. im worried by the time i graduated as a pharmacy student..i cannot get a job as a pharmacist . thanks. hope for your positive reply .
At the moment, ACCA seem to be a better option unless the government restructures the healthcare system and introduces dispensing separation