The article below appeared in NST today http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/enough-doctors-in-the-house-1.66656#ixzz1qJoGh1k4. It looks like it is slowly coming out of the bottle. Even though the issue of oversupply of doctors did appear last year, it died off slowly when the “so-called” moratorium was implemented by the cabinet. The moratorium ended up as a joke after that! The article below has some mistakes. The number of medical schools is currently 36 in total and not 30 as mentioned. The total of medical programmes will be more than 40 as many are running 2-4 concurrent medical programmes as mentioned below as well.

The reasons given by our Deputy Health Minister for the increase in number of doctors in civil service: “Among the reasons for the big number, she said, was that more government  scholarships were available for medical studies (from 600 to 800 per year) and  more openings for medical practitioners in the ministry’s health facilities” is laughable. The number of post in civil service has not changed much over the last few years. What has clearly increased is the production of medical graduates.

And if you think it is going to stop at 36, please read the article below the NST article  http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/3/25/education/10961119&sec=education which appeared in the Star last Sunday 25/03/2012. The deputy director of Higher Education said this: “About 25 more institutions have indicated their interest but we want to be selective and work with those who are specialists in their fields such as in Medicine, Engineering or Business programmes” WTH!! in the name of education hub!!

I received an email from an unhappy budding doctor who said that I am painting a negative picture and breaking the heart of many aspiring doctors who have genuine interest in doing medicine to help people.  “in your posts, you also pointed out the fact that doctors now have little or no job security as posts are limited which really dampens our ambitions as even if our intentions were true, to genuinely comfort and assist people in need, with no posts available in the next 5 years, or opportunity to do so, really discourages students like me to even consider it as it seems like pursuing medicine is now a dead end!” 

The facts are right infront of you and it is up to you to decide on your future. There is nothing special about medicine that you must be guaranteed a job! It is just like any other profession where you need to look for a job. The only difference is that medicine is more complicated than any other professions as I have mentioned numerous times before. No government promises you a job. Thus, if you have genuine interest in medicine and not for money, go ahead but be prepared to have a tough life ahead. That is what I am trying to say.

Enough doctors in the house?

By Syed Nazri  | syedn@nst.com.my

THIS is the time of year when so many young Malaysians run towards realising  childhood ambitions, and parental pressure, of becoming a doctor.

Everyone among them seems to want to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer,  though several years down the road, some might end up being an overworked  politician or an underpaid reporter.

It is the transformation season, one that follows the completion and outcome  of the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia  examinations. More than half a million of them will start looking at what they  are going to do next. And it’s quite certain that hundreds, if not thousands,  will seek to take up courses related to medicine on their way to becoming  doctors. The straight A+s in SPM came up to almost 600, and that’s only a small  fraction of the doctor hopefuls.

It happens every year; if the high achievers don’t get government  scholarships to do these courses, they will make noise, call up overworked  politicians or write to the newspapers.

But let’s look at things in another perspective and consider what was  revealed in Parliament last week by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul  Rashid Shirlin and match it with what doctors themselves think.

Rosnah said: “The number of medical practitioners in the country has  increased significantly with the ministry registering over 21,747 in government  service last year.” (It was recently also reported that there are about 33,000  overall).

Among the reasons for the big number, she said, was that more government  scholarships were available for medical studies (from 600 to 800 per year) and  more openings for medical practitioners in the ministry’s health facilities.

Now, let’s ponder over what came out in the latest issue of Berita MMA, the  monthly newsletter of the Malaysian Medical Association. The following is an  excerpt of an article written by Datuk Dr N. Athimulam. I was told it reflects  the views of most, if not all, doctors. It’s really hot off the press in more  ways than one:

“As per Dec 30, 2011, there were 11 government and 19 private medical  colleges, with about eight offshore recognised medical programmes. The strength  of medical students in each medical faculty varies. Two private colleges in the  southern region with twinning programmes have 1,457 students here and another  1,229 overseas, with a total of 2,686. A newly opened prestigious private  university college has a total of 95 medical students.

“On an average, if there are 500 students in each college, then there should  be 15,000 medical students in Malaysia,” Dr Athimulam, a past president of MMA,  wrote.

He added that about 10 years ago, the authorities introduced a requirement  referred to as NOC (no objection certificate) to regulate the number by making  sure that only really qualified students could take up medicine.

This ruling, however, has not been adhered to. And as a result, he said, the  number of Malaysian medical students overseas has increased to “easily more than  25,000”, mostly in the Middle East, Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine.

Dr Athimulam further wrote: “The government intends to achieve a target of  87,177 doctors by 2020, by which time the country’s population is projected to  be 35 million.

“The Health Ministry has set a target ratio of one doctor to every 400  people by 2020”, but he expressed fear that there could now be as many as 10,000  medical interns every year, which means that the government target for 2020  “will be reached by 2017”.

Then the cruncher: “Unless the government controls medical education, there  may be a glut of doctors by 2017 or 2018.”

The way things are going, I don’t know for sure whether it is good or bad.  On one hand, Malaysians aspire to take the country to become a developed and  high-income nation in a few years.

Which means a sufficient number of doctors.

But on the flipside, are we doing it the right way and not compromising on  quality?

Whatever it is, this paper is offering a timely service to post-school  Malaysians about career choices and the right courses, including medicine.

The New Straits Times will publish a weekly pullout starting today that will  serve as a guide to students intending to pursue higher education. Be sure to  get your copy.

The country aspires to become the regional learning centre by focusing on its strengths in four key areas.

THANKS to a landmark partnership agreement between the Higher Education Ministry, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and the world-renowned Massachu­setts Institute of Technology (MIT), the country is set to become the knowledge capital for logistics and supply chain management in Asia.

This has resulted in the formation of the Malaysian Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (Misi) in Shah Alam.

Dedicated to postgraduate supply chain education and research, Misi will serve as MIT’s Asian hub in the university’s international network of centres, which is known as the Global SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence) Network.

The other centres in the network are the MIT Centre for Transportation and Logistics (MIT CTL), the Zaragoza Logistics Centre in Spain and the Centre for Latin American Logistics Innovation in Colombia.

Modelled after a leading supply chain management programme at the MIT CTL, Misi rector Dr Mahender Singh explained that Misi will offer both Master’s and Doctoral programmes in supply chain management and logistics.

“The Master’s programme will start in August this year while the Doctoral programme is scheduled for next year,” he said.

In addition, Misi will offer short courses under its Executive Development Programme as well as conduct research and corporate outreach activities for global and local firms that operate in the Southeast Asia region.

“The MIT Global SCALE Network is an international alliance of leading-edge research and education centres, dedicated to the development and dissemination of global innovation in supply chain and logistics. It was launched by the MIT CTL with the opening of the centre in Spain in 2004 followed by another one in Colombia in 2008.

“Collectively, the SCALE Network, which includes CTL, now spans four continents,” he said.

Explaining the meaning of supply chain education and research, Dr Mahender who has been seconded from MIT, said supply chain management (SCM) is one of the key areas within the business management space.

“A supply chain comprises everything involved in creating a product, from raw materials to finished goods. It is the art and science of bringing raw materials from their source, converting it into products and moving them to the multiple consumer locations in the most efficient manner to make the business profitable.

“We teach students a variety of skills since the domain of SCM needs a very diverse set of capabilities,” he said.

The students learn quantitative as well as qualitative methods to make supply chain performance improvements. The complexity in supply chain arises due to the routine movements of products and service across country boundaries.

“The students also learn about the financial and informational aspects of the business as it relates to the performance of the supply chain directly,” he added.

Using the actual data and description of their problems, he said researchers may decide to use mathematical tools to model the problem and find a better way to find a superior solution, or devise better solutions after conducting a qualitative analysis of the available data.

The signing of the landmark partnership agreement was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last year, who commended the three parties for their efforts, which supported the nation’s aspirations to strengthen higher education and to be a regional education hub.

“With Misi’s establishment, I believe that research and development in logistics and supply chain industry will propel and accelerate other industries for the benefit of the nation,” said Najib at the time.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said it was heartening that MIT chose Malaysia to host its overseas centre.

“The partnership is significant because China and Singapore had expressed interest in hosting the centre,” he said.

He said the ministry had selected UiTM to be MIT’s partner as the local university had a long history of offering transport and logistics programmes up to postgraduate level.

In terms of higher education institutions as of October last year, there are 20 public universities, 26 private universities, 23 private university colleges, 28 polytechnics, 74 community colleges, 434 private colleges and several branch campuses of foreign universities.

On the possibility of setting up more branch campuses of foreign universities here, Higher Education Ministry deputy director-general (private higher education institutions) Prof Datin Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir said the ministry wanted to be more selective when doing so.

Working with the best

“About 25 more institutions have indicated their interest but we want to be selective and work with those who are specialists in their fields such as in Medicine, Engineering or Business programmes,” she said.

Giving examples, she said these included the partnerships between Misi and MIT, Perdana University and Johns Hopkins University and Royal College of Surgeons, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Southamp­ton University and Reading University.

“Heriot-Watt University will set up a branch campus in Putrajaya,” she added.

According to the Heriot-Watt University website, it has been chosen to establish a new campus in Malaysia at an investment of £20mil (RM98.4mil).

It said the university was chosen as winner of a major international tender by the Malaysian Government and Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd, in recognition of its strong reputation for creating diverse research and development opportunities and solid strong track record of success in linking with industry, commerce and the wider society. The new, purpose-built campus will create opportunities for up to 4,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students to study a range of courses in science, engineering, business, mathematics and design, with a view to gaining a UK-recognised degree.

Recent figures show there are 87,322 international students in Malaysia (24,617 in public institutions and 62,705 in private institutions). 9,002 of these international students are pursuing PhDs, 11,673 Masters and 35,347 their Bachelor degrees while the rest are attending diploma and certificate-level courses.

The ministry is targeting 200,000 international students enrolled in the country’s higher education institutions by 2020.

Prof Siti Hamisah said the Government is planning to expand the roles of its Education Malaysia offices (formerly known as Malaysian Students’ Department (MSD)).

“It will be like a one-stop centre where foreign students can seek more information on studying in Malaysia as well as better able to handle the recruitment of foreign students. It is similar to British Council,” she said.

To become a higher education hub, Prof Siti Hamisah said the ministry has identified four areas that will put the country in a better position to attract foreign students.

These are Islamic banking and finance, advanced engineering, hospitality and health sciences.

Mohamed Khaled said last year that by focusing on the four key areas rather than in too many disciplines, Malaysia would be able to strengthen and develop its position as a higher learning education hub.