The new cabinet line-up was announced today. Since MCA refused to accept any cabinet post due to their worst performance in history, MIC is given the Health Minister post. For the 2nd time, MOH is now being headed by a doctor. Dr Subra is a dermatologist by training and was running his own clinic in Malacca before venturing into politics. However, if his record as Human Resource Minister is anything to go by, his performance can be questionable. Other that this appointment, there is nothing great about the cabinet line-up. Appointing Wathyamoorthy as a Deputy Minister in PM’s department is not a good move. HINDRAF was once declared illegal and all their top leaders were detained under ISA in 2007. Wathya ran away to UK till his return last year. During this time, all the main stream medias condemned the movement as racist and influencing the Indians to go against the government. Unfortunately, it is now a component party of BN and given a Deputy Minister post. So, what say you MIC and IPF? Who is the representative of the Indians under Najib’s cabinet?
Anyway, I hope Dr Subra can put MOH in order again. The recent news about an Houseman becoming a bogus policeman is rather disturbing. Remember what I said before about the deteriorating quality of students who are doing medicine nowadays? Even though this is an isolated case, I am sure it questions on how such a person can become a MBBS holder in the first place. Why was he involved in this crime? Was he in huge debt? I had always said that you should NEVER take huge loans to do medicine. It will take a lifetime to settle it. I know many who do illegal locums to settle their loan which include Car loan etc which will come later. Due to social status, many parents force their child to buy big cars and add more loans to their already huge debt. When the jobless scenario hits the market, many more doctors may land up in illegal activities as what happens in many other countries.
The jobless scenario of nurses hit the market end of last year. Many were left with at least RM 60K PTPTN loan. The government tried it’s best to absorb some into the civil service but could only do so for about 1600 of them. I know many nurses who are asking for a job in GP clinics and even working as Customer Care staffs in some hospitals. The quality is questionable and many do not even have any credits in SPM despite MOHE enforcing at least 3 credits. However, to enter civil service, they need atleast 5 credits!! Was MOHE sleeping? BTW, I still do not understand the logic of combining MOHE and MOE into 1 Ministry but have 2 Ministers!! Who makes the decisions? The minister who was running the MOHE is now the MB of Johor!
After the jobless scenario issue, the government has now enforced a minimum of 5 credits to enter nursing college. A little bit too late, I must say! This will definitely affect the intake of nursing colleges if enforced strictly. I hope MMC will also review its criteria and improve on the quality of the medical schools. The jobless scenario will definitely hit the medical profession soon. With the new Minister and a New DG, I hope something drastic can be taken to improve the quality of medical intakes and graduates.
Junior doc turns bad
BUSTED: The toy pistol and other items seized from the groupA 26-YEAR-OLD houseman may have to forgo his dreams of becoming a doctor after he, and three others, were detained in relation to a robbery.
The man, who was pursuing his housemanship at Raja Pemaisuri Bainun Hospital, had also impersonated a police officer during the incident.
In confirming the arrest, Ipoh City Police chief ACP Sum Chang Keong said a 30-yearold businessman was driving his car along Jalan Dato Onn Jaafar when it was blocked by another car with four occupants at 4.25am.
One of the passengers from the car, dressed in an ASP police vest, alighted from the vehicle and punched the victim’s chest before he introduced himself as a CID police personnel.
“The man then pointed a black object, which resembled a pistol, and demanded the driver hand over RM350 or follow them to Sungai Senam police station,” Sum said.
At this juncture, another accomplice alighted from the car, and together with the houseman, got into the victim’s car and went to a bank in Jalan Sultan Idris Shah.
Upon arriving at the bank’s ATM, the robbers increased the amount to RM450. The victim then tried to call a friend for assistance, but was stopped by one of the suspects, who also seized his identity card.
Luckily for the businessman, a police car was dispatched to the scene after the Pekan Baru police station received a tip-off about the incident.
“The two police personnel spoke to the ‘officer’, who informed them he was from the Sungai Senam police station,” Sum said.
When the policemen asked for his authority card, the “ASP” flashed a Malaysian Special Ranger Agency card with his personal particulars.
Realising something amiss, the police officers took the four men to the Pekan Baru police station to conduct further investigations. They also seized the vest with the “officer’s” name tag, the authority card, a police cap, a pair of handcuff s, a toy pistol and two sets of keys.
The car which the four men were driving in was registered under the houseman’s name.
“The case is being investigated under Section 395 of the Penal Code for robbery and Section 6 of the Firearms Act,” Sum added.
The four have been remanded until May 17 to facilitate investigations.
Number of nursing students in Malaysia set to drop
JOHOR BARU – The number of students enrolling in nursing courses in Malaysia is expected to decrease as many students are finding it hard to meet the new entry requirement set by higher education ministry.
Institut Sains dan Teknologi Darul Takzim Chief Executive Officer Shahrul Azila Mohd Salleh said the entry requirement used to be three credit passes but last year, it was changed to five credit passes for nursing students.
“We hope the higher education ministry will review the change as many students are not meeting the mark,” he said after the institute’s seventh convocation here yesterday.
Shahrul said other private higher education institutions were also facing the same problem.
“For the last intake, we managed to enrol 240 to 300 students, but we expect the number to drop to 20 per cent for the intake next year,” he said.
He said the institute would submit an official application to the ministry to review the matter.
Shahrul said that if the institute could not fill the enrolment quota for nursing, it would have no choice but to accept international students from Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and China.
“We had quality graduates in the nursing course and among them were students with three credit passes,” he said, adding that the entry requirement should remain at three credit passes to appeal to a wider intake.
Earlier, a total of 411 students obtained their diplomas for various courses including business management, accounting and information technology during the convocation ceremony held at Persada Johor Convention Centre.
The recipient of the institute’s Executive Chairman Award, Siti Zulaikha Zulkifli, 21, said the key to her success was to be brave to ask questions.
“Besides revisions, I do not hesitate to speak up and approach my lecturers if I have questions,” said the Diploma in Accountancy student. She plans to move on to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Number of nursing students in M’sia set to drop
Pagalavan's Avatar 
Would be interesting to find out which medical school he graduated from, and what his SPM and pre-U grades were to get in.
Seriously, for the sum they are asking from the victim, it cannot be to pay off ‘debts’. As a HO, he is already getting significantly more than that monthly. I think he already knows his career as a doctor is in trouble before embarking on this.
Probably he thought being a doctor is easy life with big money!
Hi jk,
When I read the news, the first thought which came into my mind was that which medical school he graduated from, and more importantly what was his SPM and pre-U grades were.
Dr Paga,
The HO was reported driving a silver Mercedez Benz too. Well, I may be wrong but I feel that it was a childish prank by the said HO together with his college friends. Nowadays, with the shift system being implemented, HO seems to have a lot of ample time to their disposal. The good ones take the time to study for membership exams and at the other end of the spectrum, well, there are those who venture into quick money making businesses. From what I have heard, the private GP’s nowadays are quite careful when hiring locums and nowadays, there are a surplus of MOs they can choose from too. Also, The problem is that with all these shocking news about houseman, the public would probably start doubting the medical profession.
With regards to appointing Dr Subra as the Health Minister, I believe it was wise move as Dr Subra is a doctor by training, unlike his predecessor. However, only time will tell whether Dr Subra will rise from his position and save the medical fraternity.Hopefully, he will not bow down to ‘requests’ of many. I do hope that Dr Subra will start his post by reviewing all these ‘dubious’ medical colleges producing questionable medical graduates.
I forgot to mention. If there was a voting process for the post of Health Minister, I would have definitely voted for you!
Haha, thanks for the compliment
I’ve just sent you an email Dr Pagalavan.I hope you can take your time to reply to it.Thank you.
Dr I need your help in Malaysia we are churning out hundreds of nursing students ok. so once they qualify what are they know as .tks
Once they pass the nursing board exam, they can be considered as a Staff Nurse
Read:
http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/05/14/houseman-posing-as-cop-detained-while-robbing-trader/
Funny that he still use “Dr” in front of his name to pose as a cop
Not very smart. Even worse would be to use his real name to impersonate someone else! If that is his real name lah.
Based on MMC register,he is from CSMU
As if CSMU’s reputation is not bad enough.
CSMU churns out many rubbish doctors who just pay for their seats. The good ones who go there due to cheaper tuition fees from there earn a bad name due to this.
Critic,
Well said.
Who? The minister or the robber?
The robber
Good one Lolz!
question : Guaranteed Job or Job Satisfaction?
Lets hope that Dr Subra with his training in both Medicine and Adminstration in the Govt could perhaps look into the plight of future soon to be doctors!
I know many consultants who only drive Toyota/Honda.This guy owns a Mercedes registered to his name. So, you need to guess where his money comes from. Unfortunately, there are many GP clinics who do hire house officers for locum, some even hire MAs.
I still remember the good ol times as a HO, we were so knackered after work, the first thing we did when we went home was to have a decent meal before going to bed. Nowadays, the HOs have so much free time, some by their 5th posting already have up to MRCP Part 2 whilst their MOs are struggling to even pass Part 1 due to the lack of time to study.
I suggest making HO working hours as follow:
Mon-Fri: 7am-5pm, with on calls 1-2 times per week, post call off at 12-1 pm, Weekends morning rounds 7am-12pm, and they get the day off early if their work is done. The only place you get to work shifts are if they rotate in the A&E.
The above schedule prepares them for MOship, as this is what the MOs are going through, only difference being the MOs get 2 weekends off morning rounds/calls.
I used to know of a senior consultant who drove a battered Proton Wira to work! HOs driving fancy cars is a norm nowadays, just to show off unfortunately.
I am surprised you mentioning that local GPs are still hiring HOs and MAs as locums despite with so many issues and warnings from KKM. Also, there is quite a lot of new MOs nowadays, so I wonder why the need to get HOs.
I think its good that by 5th posting some HOs have completed their part 2. This shows that some HOs are motivated to be a physician and these are the type who will fare well later in life,. In UK, I know of those who complete all 3 parts MRCP within 1 year (ie after their foundation training).
its not practical having HO working hours like that, as some wards will then have 20 plus HO then from 7am-5pm. The ward specialist and MOs are already having a tough time to monitor these HOs.
By the way, some of the newly graduated MOs are seeking for shift system now! They can’t stand the stress of being on-call!
So what do you suggest in terms of their working hours? Perhaps we can come up with something and then present it to the DG. This new chap seems to listen more and he is active in Facebook.
Benedict C,
At the current rate of imbalance between HO and specialist, I don’t think we can change the shift system to an on call system again in the short term and maybe even in 5 years time. If there are truly enough specialists and consultants, all district hospitals should be equipped with 6 specialties ie general medicine, general surgery, anaesthesia, A&E, paediatrics, orthopaedics and obstetrics and gynaecology. In this environment, the excess HO can be absorbed into an oncall based system (like how you have suggested) and they definitely would learn more and have hands on training. The tertiary state hospitals then should then be left with subspecialties in a idealistic environment. It is difficult to change the current system because it is obviously under political influence.
Dr Paga,
Since there are 2 Indian ‘representatives’ in the government, ie MIC and HINDRAF, both will want to prove their value to the Indian community and probably vie with each other to gain the ‘nambikei’ of the Indian community once again. Now, since Dr Subra is from MIC and a Health Minister at that too, would he be pressured to evaluate the derecognition of CSMU since there are a huge number of people who are disappointed with the derecognition of CSMU AND ALSO a (huge) number of Indians parents who wants to send their children to this ‘affordable world class’ university? Speaking of affordability, is it me or has anyone else noticed that the medical education fees for Indonesia and Russia published in the local media has gone down compared to 5-6 years ago?
The medical fees is declining gradually due to stiff competition. All these colleges use the students to make money for their college. They don’t care about the quality. If you ask me, MMC should derecognise many of these universities including some from Malaysia.
Whether it is MIC or Hindraf, it does not make any difference. What can Wathya do?
The earlier they finish mrcp, the earlier they specialize..haha
Two things.
1. Majority of CSMU medical grads are as good as rubbish. Recently, one of them in H. Batu Gajah, Perak gave I.V streptokinase to a patient with chest pain. ECG shows sinus tachycardia,:)). Obviously he never learn to read ECG in CSMU. Also, as HO, he never had to read any ECG as it is all MO’s responsibility,;)). Now, as an MO, he got what he wished for… a license to kill, ;))
2. Dr Subra’s appointment as Health Minister is the worst decision made by our PM. Remember who was the politican who faught with the ex-DG, Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican in 2005 when MMC de-recognised CSMU??. Which party is Dr Subra from??. From the inside info that I got, Dr Subra going to bring up this issue with MMC and will get all CSMU grad and all Russian medical grads recognised by MMC without any need to sit for MQE.
Good luck to all Malaysians.
Frankly, MMC should undertake a new accreditation process for all their “recognised” programs including local medical schools. I jus hope our current DG will do it.
So, this is the doctor ??
http://beta.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/05/31/Doc-claims-cops-hit-him-during-remand.aspx
must be, probably was never interested to be one
the weird thing is, that doctor still wear police uniform in that pic??? and by the look of the news, he did not seem to realize or care that he is impersonating as a police officer(which is wrong in the first place itself) and think he is still right for not accepting “bribery rm350” from the person he tried to rob and AS A fake police?????IS THIS story REAL LIFE?? makes no sense.
I think that uniform ( in pic) which he is wearing is for member of the Malaysian Special Ranger Agency (a volunteer agency formed last year under the Home Ministry as stated in Star). He claimed that he is a member of this agency.
Hi Nobody,
1) You mean that an MO gave IV streptokinase to a patient with chest pain with ECG showing sinus tachycardia! Gosh, this is definitely alarming and I am sure there are other similar cases too but of course, will be covered up.
2) I was thinking of the same thing really. The CSMU issue will resurface again.
im still a med student but why u cant give streptokinase in sinus tachycardia ???
I think you need to read more!
Dear haha,
If you are a med student, you should have the resources to look up the pharmacology of and indications for giving streptokinase yourself. I would start with a good pharmacology textbook. If that is too difficult to do, ask Dr Google.
google said its given.;)
It depends on what causes the tachycardia. Sinus tachy by itself does not mean anything. You need to find the cause!
I give up
@haha:
Read up on Malaysia CPG on Management of STEMI. Good thing of Malaysian CPG is that it’s really for dummies, explaining most of the things there are. 😛
I usually got my CPG’s from:
http://medicalpblukm.blogspot.com/2010/12/malaysia-clinical-practice-guidelines.html
or Malaysia MOH site, though some of the older CPG’s are not there.
http://www.moh.gov.my/cpgs
True enough, the Health Ministry is going to review the deregistration of CSMU. But, on the positive side, I guess in the future CSMU grads can double up as special rangers too!
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/06/06/health-ministry-to-review-csmu/
Politics but I hope our new DG will be firm on his decisions.
I have been watching the (relatively) recently appointed DG, who carries the burden of hope in his shoulders. Together with a Health Minister who is also a Dermatologist, Doctors, Paramedics and supporting staff are actually really hopeful that both of them will iron out the problems corrupting the ministry, but still yet to be seen. The hype of adding buildings to HKL, attending international meetings and what not, to me, can be done by any pencil-pushing lackey. What I hope from this new dynamic duo, is a revamp of the system.
Housemanship issue straighten out, MQE enforced for a fair and quality selection, no racial or political bias, MOs strengthened and trained properly, Masters deadlock and bottleneck sorted out, with proper credentialing of our masters program so that it will be internationally recognized, abolish MRCP, MRCOG, MRCPCh as a specialist qualification, and make them entry requirements (as per UK), like MRCS. Specialist distribution to rural areas, proper subspecialty training of specialists and increasing centres; these are the things expected from them, and that does not include nursing, paramedics and administrative problems. Please leave the ribbon cutting and opening speeches to a representative, while these “epidemic dilemmas” are tackled personally. People expect a physician minister and a surgeon DG to be able to tackle these issues.
Reliable sources informed me that the DG himself spends time reading your blog, Dr. Paga, and have been actively responding. Initially I thought he was JonJ, but it doesn’t really matter as a pseudonym can always be created over seconds. If you can hear me, DG, I am an inconsequential insignificant cog in this vast mechanical work we call the Malaysian Health System, and I still think you and the minister have yet to prove yourself. Yet to convince old timers like me. Yet to surpass your predecessor (Yeah, I’m talking about Merican, not Mr Pullman who was rather brief)
Leadership is amanah, and no amount of lip-service can ever deter this fact. Something we should all think about.
u can abolish mrcp etc if you give chance for everyone to be able to do masters. not just 800 places among 6000 graduates. People who deserved masters didnt get it also. So, fix that. Then, u can abolish. Everyone love to be specialist asap. 😉
MRCP MRCPCh MRCOG are UK based papers. In UK if somebody has them they are eligible for specialty training, but are considered MO or registrar. In Singapore almost all MO going for training have them. They are MOs. If they come here, suddenly they become specialist. Why are we demoting our standards? Our specialists are the same level as Singapore’s MOs/ registrar. I agree if those with these membership qualifications can cut 1 to 2 years out of masters, say, entering at year 3 of masters but how can we put them at the same level as masters?
Everybody wants to be a specialist, but doesn’t mean we should cut corners to overproduce. The DG is a surgeon, he above all else should recognize this issue. No point in awarding the title specialist if they don’t deserve it or are not up to the notch.
However, that being said, I do think we should revamp the masters system, in particular with regards to intake and international standardization.
Thanks for the info. Well, I hope he reads this blog and see all the views and what is happening on the ground. I don’t think MRCP etc should be derecognised but should be incorporated into the system as part of the training. probably , having a more structured training system for gazettement after passing MRCP etc.That’s what Singapore was doing.
After some busy recent weeks, I finally noticed this!
Mechanium Cog wrote:
Reliable sources informed me that the DG himself spends time reading your blog, Dr. Paga, and have been actively responding. Initially I thought he was JonJ…
Muahahaha! Best compliment (sic) I have ever received online! I can assure everyone that about the only thing Datuk Dr Noor and I have in common is breast surgery.
Dr Noor should have no problem surpassing his immediate predecessor Dr Hasan who went beyond the call of duty to foster good relationships between the medical and nursing professions.
I wish him and Dr Subra well. May they have the streingth and will to make difficult decisions, and to effect change for the better of healthcare in Bolehland.
Yes, Jon J.
He was caught with his pants down, literally. It seems he would rather be a ”pemangku” than actually doing his job.
But I sincerely feel that your sentencingis somewhat akin to that of his. Either way, it matters very little who he actually is in this group.
I just hope he starts to consider a revolution in KKM. In the this near future, people will start to ask where we graduate from and are we from the newor the old system.
This nonsense of really bending the rules so that everybody can become a doctor is a sham, claimed to mass produce doctors to fill-in urgent vacancies, but is actually to allow incompetent crony offsprings to saddle-up the misperceived notion of fame in being ”doctors” and to make profit in the process of under-par mass production.
The responsibility of a crusade to abolish that corruption, rests on their shoulders now.
The current system of postgraduate training, ie the Masters programmes need a revamp. Palming it out to more IPTA and private entities to conduct their own masters and certification is NOT the answer, surely they have learn from the undergraduate medical training fiasco playing out in front of us now?
We can never be without politics in Malaysia, we can only hope that there be minimal political interference. However, with the billions involved in healthcare, I cannot see politicians leaving it alone. I just hope that they leave the TRAINING of healthcare personnel to the professions like most developed countries. Pipe dream I know.