Here we go again. On and off, news like this appears in the mainstream newspaper over the last 2 years. BUT nothing has changed!
Today, The Star produced an article of possible “unemployed doctors” coming, very soon. You can read the article below. Well, I have been talking about this since 2006! When I first wrote an article in MMA magazine in 2006, even the MMA President then said that I am over exaggerating. Now, it has become a reality. Just few days ago, I wrote on Health Facts 2013 which clearly explains what the situation is going to be in the next 2-3 years. How many graduates can the government absorb? I was also recently informed in this blog that a UKM graduate is still waiting for 4 months to be posted ! This is something that I had never heard of. Usually, public university graduates ,where the SPA interview is conducted within the university before the students graduate, will get their posting letter within 1 month! Does this mean that MOH is running out of post and waiting for those who finish housemanship to become MO first? The MO post is also getting filled up very fast. Don’t forget about the type of training these doctors are receiving and issues concerning limited post-graduate training. I just heard that a “locum” MO gave calamine cream for vaginal discharge!! Looks like a joke? Well, that’s what happening out there! Poorly trained graduates coupled with poor training during housemanship/MO.
The article below also has some factual mistakes. It claims that there are 33 medical colleges in “Full Production” mode which is not right. We only have 20 medical programs in production mode! The remaining 23 is yet to produce any graduates. So, if there are 5000 graduates even by 2014 (as mentioned in the article), what will happen when all 43 medical programs are in “Full Production” mode? You can do your maths!
What happened to the moratorium issued in 2011 ? Only GOD knows. It only remains on paper, I guess.
There was also another interesting article in the same news paper, concerning doctor’s consultation fee. As I have written before, doctor’s charges are regulated by the government under the Private Healthcare Services and Facilities Act 1998 and it has not changed over the last 20 years ! The article has rightfully said that even a plumber, Hairstylist and electrician can charge more than that. An electrician can earn about RM 20-30K a month single-handedly. What about doctors ? Well, I had written enough about declining income and many are being forced to close shop or go into unethical practices as I had written over here. As I had said before, only less than 20% of the hospital’s bill belong to doctors. The rests are hospital’s fee. Unfortunately, these are NOT regulated, as most private hospitals are GLC owned! YOu know what I mean………………
Too many doctors, too little training
BY CHRISTINA CHIN
SGCHRIS@THESTAR.COM.MY
The future remains uncertain for aspiring doctors unless more training hospitals are opened.
COME next year, some 5,000 doctors are expected to be jobless.
This is because there are not enough government hospitals to train the large number of medical graduates being churned out, says Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan.
“There are just too many doctors and too many medical institutions flooding the market,” he claims, adding that there are now about 40,000 active doctors in the country.
“Some 5,000 doctors are graduating yearly but where are they going to do their housemanship and compulsory training?
“Currently in government hospitals, there are some 60 doctors in one unit so how are they going to learn?” he asks, adding that soon there will not be enough posts for medical officers in government hospitals.
According to the 2011 Health Ministry Annual Report, 21,765 out of 28,309 vacancies for medical officers have been filled, he says.
“This means that by now, the 6,544 available posts would have almost been filled. Where will the fresh graduates go next year?”
Dr Tharmaseelan calls on the government to build more hospitals, increase the number of beds in existing ones and equip the district hospitals with training facilities to accommodate the influx of aspiring doctors.
“There were 130 government hospitals in 2007 and 132 in 2011 – that’s an increase of only two hospitals in four years. It’s definitely insufficient. If this continues, doctors will soon join the flock of some 15,000 unemployed nurses,” he claims.
He adds that although the Health Ministry has assured the association that there are some 1,000 vacancies for doctors this year, the future remains uncertain for aspiring doctors unless more training hospitals are opened.
He believes the problem of unemployed doctors would be worse if the compulsory two-year government service is stopped.
“There is talk that after completing their housemanship, the doctors won’t need to serve at government hospitals anymore. MMA is concerned because this will result in doctors who are not adequately trained,” he says. MMA is urging the Education Ministry to monitor closely the many medical colleges that have sprouted recently, adding that entry requirements are too low for most.
“Students from colleges that are not recognised can sit for an examination to make them eligible to practice locally.
“We have an Air Asia ‘everyone can fly’ syndrome – it seems that everyone can become a doctor. Adopting Henry Ford’s industrialisation of car production to training doctors will result in poor quality medical practitioners,” he adds.
He attributes the glut to a lack of co-ordination between Education Ministry and Health Ministry, with the former bent on allowing medical colleges to mushroom without considering the Health Ministry’s needs.
He adds that medical colleges should have their own hospitals instead of sending their graduates to train in government hospitals.
“Another way to prevent unemployment from setting in is for doctors to become specialists and ‘super specialists’ in niche areas of medicine,” he says.
MMC member and senior medical practitioner Dr Milton Lum points out that there are currently almost 9,000 housemen nationwide.
“How many of them can the government hospitals absorb? Unemployment is not a possibility – it’s a probability.
“In one to two years’ time, government hospitals won’t be able to take in housemen anymore so medical graduates will have to leave the country to find work because they can’t get registered here,” he says, adding that less than 50 hospitals in the country are equipped with the necessary training facilities.
Quoting a Health Ministry study done last year, he says housemen now see less than three new patients daily.
“When I was doing my housemanship 40 years ago, I was seeing between 15 and 25 patients daily.
“Medical graduates today are not getting enough exposure and experience which will definitely result in a drop in quality for doctors,” he cautions, adding that in recent years, the MMC had received more than 100 complaints concerning doctors yearly. Before 2005, the council only received about two or three complaints.
Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM) president Dr Steven Chow says there are more than 33 local medical schools in “full production” excluding overseas institutions.
“The total number of posts for doctors available in the Health Ministry, universities and other public institutions is about 25,000.
“We are already seeing difficulties in getting enough training posts for housemen and medical officers.
“This will worsen with influx from neighbouring countries in due course,” he adds.
Comenting on the “glut of doctors”, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says the phrase is “very relative”.
The Health Ministry, he says, is working closely with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and the Education Ministry in managing the supply of doctors for the country.
The country has been producing more doctors yearly with almost 85% of the ministry’s vacancies for doctors already filled, he adds.
“However, the posts available do not commensurate with the needs of the country.
“Malaysia will definitely need more doctors when we reach the status of a high income country.
“By 2020, the population is expected to reach 34 million so Malaysia will need a total of 85,000 doctors to attain the ratio of 1:400,” he says, adding that the ministry will apply to Public Service Department (JPA) for additional posts for doctors.
More doctors are needed to accommodate the fast expanding private healthcare services, health tourism, new health facilities, higher level of care by the Health Ministry, rise in specialisation and sub-specialisation of medical practice, expansion of more complex speciality services like cardiothoracic and hepatobiliary surgeries, and the emergence of new infectious diseases, lifestyle-associated diseases and chronic disease patients.
“More are joining the post graduate and sub-speciality programmes and coupled with the brain drain of medical practitioners, we need doctors.”
Doctors call for 30% hike
BY CHRISTINA CHIN
SGCHRIS@THESTAR.COM.MY
A doctor checking a young boy as his mother looks on. -filepicPETALING JAYA: Doctors in private clinics and hospitals are asking for a 30% increase in consultation fees, saying it is impossible for them to survive with rising operating costs.
Malaysian Medical Association president Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan said the proposed hike was more than a decade overdue.
He claimed that doctors were now paid less than plumbers, electricians, hairstylists and food outlet operators.
General practitioners get between RM30 and RM50 per consultation while specialists charge between RM50 and RM80.
Dr Tharmaseelan said: “It is a misconception that doctors are rich and greedy. Many doctors are scraping the barrel with rising utility, rent and salary costs, and quite a few have even quit practice as it’s just too expensive to maintain a clinic.
“On average, the operating cost for a general practitioner to run a clinic in Kuala Lumpur is about RM20,000 per month.”
There are over 7,600 private clinics and hospitals nationwide. The association represents over 3,000 members.
Dr Tharmaseelan added that a general practitioner charged cough and cold patients between RM45 and RM50, including medication.
“It does not make sense that people are paying more for a haircut or a meal than for treatment,” he said.
He said that a rise was necessary for doctors to cover their “basic costs” in light of mandatory rulings like paying minimum wage.
“We are also required by law to have medical indemnity insurance, hire radiographers and engage waste disposal contractors at our clinics.
“It’s been three decades and our fees have remained unchanged,” he said.
He said the MMA submitted the new fee schedule to the Health Ministry two years ago but the proposal was rejected because the Government felt it was steep.
He said the MMA could not agree to the Government’s 14% fee increase proposal made last year as it would result in a bleak future for its members.
Malaysian Medical Council member and senior medical practitioner Dr Milton Lum said: “A plumber charges between RM50 and RM100 just to check my pipes – that’s way more than what a general practitioner charges (for a consultation).
“These days, RM100,000 medical bills are not uncommon but doctors only receive a fraction.
“Between 75% and 85% of the bill goes to the hospital and managed care organisations,” he said.
Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia president Dr Steven Chow said the existing schedule amounted to only 2.3% per year since 2000.
“Bearing in mind the inflation rate, the 30% hike is a fair request,” he said.
Pagalavan's Avatar 
i want to nominate dr. pagalavan as one of the members of the mmc! we need you to change this and made our medical field better xD
Haha. I don’t mind but being in JB makes it difficult to travel to KL frequently. Furthermore, being in private practise means difficult to take leave.
hi doctor…could you make this article published in NST,Utusan and Berita Harian as well
Published in The Star only is not enough
If you have good connection,,make it appear in tv news like TV3 as well
Cause it can give more impacts
Thank you
Similar reports has been published in NST.
I don’t think anyone reads Utusan and BH anymore. They are more interested in politics, glamour, beauty treatment, sex stories etc etc.
“In one to two years’ time, government hospitals won’t be able to take in housemen anymore so medical graduates will have to leave the country to find work because they can’t get registered here” Dr Milton Lum
And how are they going to do that when most medical degrees of Bolehland are not recognised anywhere else in the world!??
Almost an unforgivable blunder by Dr Milton Lum.
If I am not mistaken, save for SMC recognising UM and UKM, and AMC and GMC barely recognising Monash Sunway and NuMed respectively, ALL other medical degrees are not recognised anywhere else.
haha, I think the newspaper must have misquoted or what he meant was sitting for other country’s entrance exams to get a job elsewhere.
The Health DG is talking nonsense. There is no point measuring our future healthcare needs purely by a doctor:population ratio, especially when there are no training opportunities for these graduates, resulting in doctors with suspect competencies.
Simply asking JPA to allocate more posts is pointless as well. How many more can we cram into the hospitals? Some departments in the major cities in the peninsula have 80-100 houseman when they used to function perfectly well with 20-30 as recently as 5 years ago. There have been very few new hospitals built in the last 5 years and minimal expansion of current hospitals. Even if these hospitals were to be built overnight, the specialists aren’t just going to appear, not when there are 1,000 Masters posts for 5,000 graduates annually.
To solve the problem, the government needs to invest massively in healthcare infrastructure, close and amalgamate some of these suspect medical schools, and derecognise 80% of the foreign medical schools. Then again, many people have been saying the same thing for years and nothing has been done, so don’t hold your breath.
I think the DG was just trying to make a politically correct statement. Everyone knows that the government would not be able to create 4-5000 post annually!!
We need to screen the doctor applicants. In general, one out of 10 doctors are capable and 3-4 more salvageable. We have the quantity, but never the quality. We should start having a ratio of functioning doctors to population ratio, which would see still an all time low. I can see that imported (contractual) Myanmar/India/other countries doctors are even more capable in terms of knowledge and skills. Pity, pity..
The time will come but as usual, the problem will be transparency in Malaysia
Just saw a youtube mentioned that Dr Subramanian said Malaysia still have 85% unfilled doctor vacancies due to not enough medical graduate. I think he must be dreaming or outdated. The site is in sinchew news portal http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b9fpu0ixkSQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Db9fpu0ixkSQ
I think sinchew journalists failed to properly understand what was said. Link here:
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/subramaniam-malaysia-in-need-of-more-specialist-doctors
Most of the news may be true, but as an alumni of UKM and who knows what was going on, here’s to shed some light on UKM’s recently graduate awaiting housemanship issue. Application for housemanship usually takes 4-5 month’s time and you must have your graduation certificate. Yes this is a very long winding process, no thanks to Malaysia’s red tape process.
For local public varsities in Malaysia, their graduates are exempted to provide the certificate(of course they are expected to produce them later on for reporting to duty) and allowed to make the application in advance. So, despite expected to finished in April-June period, the application starts in Dec-Jan period. Hence the SPA interview can even occur in Feb-March period before you finals exams. Therefore, by the time you graduate, you just need to wait a month or two before being called up for induction prior to hosuemanship.
Now, during the call up for SPA interview, there was some stupid miscommunication during UKM academic office and the SPA center. Some sort of letter of faith or surat pengesahan was not sent to SPA. There are enough of stacks of letters to prove that they are UKM medical graduates and just because you are missing one piece of it (yes, this is Malaysia’s red tape), the whole group are denied the SPA interview. Everything had been arranged in accordingly and the UKM medical graduates are already in front of their SPA office for the interview and they are blatantly denied as such. An efficient way would have allow the interview and let the UKM academic office to provide the letters so that everything would go on smoothly.
Hence the process of producing and send the letters to SPA again and rearrange for another interview took another 2-3 months.Plus the puasa and Raya season where KKM staff are generally undermotivated to work (Almost all proceedings and transfers were halted during this period). So, now the UKm medical graduates are still waiting to be called up for induction, while UM, UPM, IMU, AIMST had already started their housemanship and soon after all the other local varsities as well, but just poor UKM. Lol..
If there’s anything, blame the red tape. Blame the office admin workers who are always overstaffed but unable to work efficiently.
Thanks for the info. Surprisingly, I just could not understand why this is happening when they have been doing it for so many years!
hi metamorphoses
just to ask,
are you a top notch in UKM medical faculty..or are you a working specialist in UKM hospital?
wanna ask..is it true its difficult to get into UKM medical faculty..??as well as other medical faculty such as in UM or USM?
If yes..do you know any person or the so called ‘good cable’ to help to get into UKM medical faculty?
Thank you in advance for your reply soon….
Hi NOTCH,
I am just an alumni of UKM medical undergraduate studies, not a working specialist there, etc. Being a top notch or not does not matter when it comes to work. All you need is a an attitude of willing to learn, being responsible, the humility to ask and learn the proper clinical judgment, skills and procedures. My wife and I may excel in our exams(credits for her to be able to do better), but we do understand that coming to work even as a house officer is another thing altogether, what else as medical officers.
I’m not sure if you regard the medical faculty in terms of undergraduate studies or postgraduate studies. If it’s the medical undergraduate studies, the best “cable” is your grades along with decent co-curicular activities and a stroke of luck. I’ve gone through the STPM way and I filled up my application forms decently (Trust me, most of those 4.0 pointers had no idea how to fill in their app forms with strategy). Of course, matriculation studies had the upper hand when it comes to undergraduates application.
For the postgraduate studies, it all bow down to your job performance as endorsed by your head of department, some advantage with qualification papers (MRCP/MRCS/MRCPCH Part 1/2, etc). Of course, some courses have their own entry examination and some would prefer their own alumni for application.
Hi Metamorphoses,
How about private varsities, IMU or Monash, are the graduates exempted to provide certificate and apply housemanship in advance like public universities?
It depends on the universities. If they request to JPA, it can be done. However, situation may change soon when they do not have any post anymore
It just makes Malaysian system sound horrible. Even it’s Medicine a serious business! Damn! What’s worse—it reflects our everyday life in Malaysia…Oh damn!
hi metamorphoses
just to ask,
are you a top notch in UKM medical faculty..or are you a working specialist in UKM hospital?
wanna ask..is it true its difficult to get into UKM medical faculty..??as well as other medical faculty such as in UM or USM?
If yes..do you know any person or the so called ‘good cable’ to help to get into UKM medical faculty?
Thank you in advance for your reply soon….
Unlikely you can get into the big 3 (UM, UKM and USM) by using cable.
Based on my own experience, UKM usually takes in those applicants who put them as first choice. Those who put UKM as second choice onwards are ‘automatically disqualified’ even though you scored CPGA 4.0.
Usually there are still approximately half of UKM students are what we called UM “rejects” (UKM was my 1sy choice, erhem..). They put UKM as 2nd choice, but still could somehow get in (Not all of them are lucky though). However, priority is given to those who put UKM/USM as 1st choice instead as once your 1st choice is rejected, your name goes down the bottom of the list of the varsity’s selection list of your next choice of course. Some students out of their folly would put:
1) UM Medicine
2) UM Dentistry
3) UM Pharmacy
4) UM Biomed
5) UM Forestry etc
then, they would get their bottomlist choice or out of their 8 choices and they start complaining that they couldn’t get a place in any critical courses. 😛 This happens every year, which sometime I would see as a blessing in disguise, which they could get out of entering Medicine! n_n”
There is no such thing as “cable” to enter public universities.
Sir, I am going to be a first year medical student one week later. I know it is too early to ask, but i hope to understand more about the postgraduation. One of the way to further study for doctors that i know is simply apply for master in medical university. But I am also informed that there are a lot more pathway for further studies, which i do not understand. One of my cousin is a housemen now and she said she is studying for specialisation now. I am so confused as she is just a housemen now. Is it means that we passed certain exam papers then we are considered doing postgraduation? I know my question sounds silly but i hope sir can answer me and correct me if I am wrong.
As a future medical student, you should spend more time reading this blog. Pls visit my “For Future Doctors” page above and read all the articles. Everything about post graduate education is mentioned there.
Doing postgraduate involves both practical continuos training and sitting for exams.
Dear doctor, I’m starting my mbbs this year in um. Which one should I take, jpa or ptptn? JPA have 10 years bond while ptptn don’t. I am planning to do specialist after mbbs. and is it possible for me to do my housemanship and MO in Singapore?
UM degree is recognised in Singapore. You should be able to work in Singapore but does not mean you will get a job. By the time you graduate, there will be 3 medical schools producing graduates in Singapore. So, whether you will get a job or not depends on availability of post.
Whether JPA or PTPTN depends on where you want to work. If you are planning to work in Malaysia, then take JPA as your job is guaranteed. If not take PTPTN but you will be in RM 150K debt by the time you graduate with no job guarantee
I think he doesn’t have to take the full loan. The fee in IPTA is very cheap, I think only MYR20K for the 5 years, and maybe some extra for expenses.
Take the JPA and have the job guaranteed. You may have better chance for your master as well later.
The fees in local public medical schools are way cheaper. Like jk has mentioned, about RM20k for 5 years. Why need to take such a hefty loan from PTPTN?
If he is thinking of going to Singapore to work, then he should not take the scholarship.
The tuition fees for 5 years is RM24100, excluding exam fees and so on. I know there are pros and cons for jpa and ptptn. Is it true as what poor doctor had mentioned that i’ll have a better chance for master/further studies if i am jpa holder? And from what I had read from doctor Pagalavan’s previous post, it’s actually not that bad to be sent to outskirt for housemanship, with that i’ll have time to study. Working overseas seems not bad too (looking at the comment below). Hmm dilemma. HELP
Dr, are undergraduates from USM recognised else where apart from Malaysia eg: Singapore?
gain some experience in Malaysia as a doctor whilst studying PLAB. then take the PLAB exam, pass it, and apply to come and work in the UK laaa. working life here is wayyyy better.
Not easy to come to UK now despite even having membership exams due to immigration laws.
I do agree with you southern tiger. working culture in Britain is very positive. I have an Indian consultant recently who seemed to have this ‘mini-god’ complex, possibly because of his background from India. He was bullying his juniors subtly. I cannot accept such attitude because I have worked under other consultants in tertiary hospitals with high standards and his attitude is simply one of putting you down. I brought the matter up with management. I was assured action will be taken and I will have a new consultant. This Indian consultant seemed friendlier now that I have highlighted the issue. Bullying, no matter how subtle, is not permitted in the national health service and we must not allow that to permeate in any hospital.
I do not know how the situation is like in Malaysia but I have heard some unacceptable attitudes among the senior doctors towards the juniors.
Oh, this is very common in Malaysia and there is nothing you can do about it! You can complaint to whoever you want but no action will be taken!
Jeffrey,
The situation is even worse in Malaysia. Here even new MOs think they are way superior than housemen, what about specialists/consultants? Not all though. Specialists publicly humiliating junior doctors in front of patients and their families is not unheard of here. Some will even chase the junior doctors out of the wards and some will whack them with file folders. Again not all. Again, not all though.
Passing PLAB and then getting an SHO post is not particularly difficult. Trying to get into a Specialty Training programme is an entirely different matter.
GP, that is one thing that puts me off coming back halfway through my training.
I hope one day when I become a consultant, I will emulate those British consultants here who are supportive and understanding. They are the ones who make me enjoy my work feeling supported and knowing that rather than being quick to blame or nit pick my mistakes, they are quicker to praise me for my effort and hard work.
I have high respect for alot of my British consultants here. And I hope to take after their footsteps in the future.
Nope
waaaa….is it really that hard? i just got a new SHO (aka MO in malaysia) who is fresh from india. Took PLAB, passed, applied for a job and come here straightaway. he may dont know how NHS works, but he is a good doctor. If he can, malaysia also can what. come on, malaysia boleh! hehe.
Hirarchy of the life form of a Houseman in all Training Hospital is lower than a bacteria. 🙂
You are a bacteria and only the methicillin-resisitant kind will survive!
LOL, Don’t look down on bacteria….they’re more intelligent than us…We take 10-20 years developing a new antibiotic for clinical use, they only take 2-4 years to develop resistance to that new antibiotic , haha,
Respected doctors…
I am keen to ask all of you few questions, because a lot miss understandings in our mind.
First, may be there is a lot of HOs in Malaysia but where are they we don’t know….
Hukm , hosp kajang running out of Ho badly. Whole surgical department 8 ho.medical had 12.
Maybe a lot Ho but distribution is wrong…so again our senior doctors must spend their time in proper distribution and do sumthing for departments…not using iPhones , galaxy , iPads,buying xpensive cars and houses….and at end of day blame HO mistake…dr plagalavan our life is so miserable and so much shortage of Ho that we have no more office hour to cop with short of Ho.
We work 7 am till 11pm…next day again same work…n believe me we don’t sit for sec also…..and now new system introduced DEMERIT sys…if one Ho do small mistake we get one demerit or two or three on one paper we carry all time , and if 10 demerit automatically extended posting….Dr Pagalavan is this our specialist or mo who going to train us…this is training they giving us keep write whole day S/b…..90% of our daily time spend in rounds…
Mo bully and misuse demerit system….
Tie not proper demerit,,look in their eyes demerit, they bad mood demerit….is this we going to get training…
No Ho dare to complain because threat skt will be badly marked,,will be xtended…..
Dr Pagalavan, you want come see hospital kajang , you will find one rat(Ho) covering whole ward,, three to four gangsteric mo and three to four ( iPhone or buying house busy ) specialist ,
You want better Ho , threat us better, make us feel proud of our job,don’t treat all same, be honest with your own jobs,,
Second….every specialist n mo favourite most dialogue……” Our time this our time tat….our time salary was 1700 now ur time salary is 3200…( their time salary 1700 n living cheap , house can buy in 70-100k…..now all xpensive , why still our mo n spec have so much time to think abt Ho salary.
Can we ask back what mo or spec salary in their time,, r they getting more or not.
And why they can’t shut up and if toooo many Ho, do cme ( for teaching purpose) not for makan purpose of show off purpose among spec n mo…
Do teachings,
I may say a lot of Ho come with passion and promises to job, but this kind of behaviour n virus of ( rat Ho, our time this our time tat) make a lot good Ho to suffer and turns compromised Ho.
Believe me leaders are busy in cars houses and arranging parties , kurus ONLY….
My whole posting I never saw one speclist question mo,, seems like mo is licence to do full time corruption n gangsteric activities…..
If a lot Ho please distribute them equal and make life easy and happy……
To take log book sign , they keep say later la later la later la,
I may say if I count roughly one department have average
6-8 speclist , 8-20 mo and 8-16 Ho…don’t believe please do refer human resources department…
Today we had 4 Ho covering whole two ward ed clinic and ot , we had 6 spec and 9 mo…….dr Pagalavan can you comment here…..
What all they doing,,,oh Ho salary high la,,our time low,,
Oh Ho drive this car our time we don’t,this is what they spending time in whole day and 2 pm go back, ask Ho punch our car…Ho will punch to pass department,,,,,,this is where all faliure
I do sympathise with you. you are right. leadership by example is paramount. unfortunately, because the current specialist and MO were treated badly during their housemanship, they believe it is right to pass down such demeaning character now that they are promoted. such shameful attitude!
Firstly, sorry to say but I think you need to improve on your English. I don’t quite understand most of what you had written eventhough I could get the main issue you are trying say.
Secondly, most of these issues had already been discussed in this blog many times before.
Maldistribution has been a main problem in MOH. The maldistribution is not just at hospital level or department level but also between districts and rural areas. A lot of “cable pulling” occurs to get places of their choices by some VIP children etc etc. If you don’t believe me, please visit Selayang, Sg Buloh Hospital etc etc. Kajang is not a favourite hospital for housemanship for many graduates. Thus many will pull cable to get to another hospital. HUKM does not belong to MOH. HUKM decides on the number of housemen they want to take. So, it is not MOH fault. Ask HUKM why they take only limited number of housemen. You must also understand that most private universities and overseas graduates only appear towards the last quarter of the year. Even some public universities are graduating in September only. So, usually there will be a “artificial” shortage in mid year when those who finish housemanship will be promoted to MO.
As for attitude problems, I had mentioned about it so many times before. It is a system problem!! It is a problem with the entire civil service. Nothing can be done no matter what you complain! You can do whatever you want but no action will be taken as it is very difficult to take action against a civil servant. Yes, I have seen many specialist “goyang kaki” and let the MOs do the job.
I have also seen MANY HOs who complain like you regarding bullying etc etc and you know what? THese very same HOs will do the same when they become MOs!! It is a vicious cycle that has been going on as long as I have been in service. Only when proper actions are taken , this will stop. I don’t see it coming as long as the civil service remains the same.
Sorry My English is wrong because manage to type from my broken phone screen …
Dr Pagalavan….just a truth I told you and about 3-5 Ho’s already decided to say bye bye to job…
Just they are civil servants so do we…anyway I ve seen specialist like Mr Das Who scold Ho n mo but every sec we spend with them we getting knowledge but majority of our leaders are just holding seats in early 40s or late 30s , and hence can’t control the power….
We as kajang HOs prefer normal on call system , because on name of not enough Ho we are working more then 90 hours week , with not single day off,
Complains never end but if we have better leaders , we will have a direction ,atleast 60% of us,
And yes they say on our faces ,we have to bully because we was been treated worst,
And I may say we have tooooooo many Mos and tooooooooo many speclist, who just whole day have few things to do….
1: breakfast
2:coffee
3:chit chat with staff nurses
4:rounds ( not for treat pt but to show staff nurses and pharmacist that they r superior on Ho)
5: gossips
6:iphonessssss , ipadssss,,, attend home loan agents call, attend air Asia package calls , talk abt Singapore ,china, cars , softwares during rounds and yes same time bully Ho to pretend that they in rounds and in topic.
Mo job , topup bully and make boss feel better, and bodek boss and once boss left say to same Ho , thanks god he or she gone,
All new coming Ho’ s getting a culture shock.
Miss usage of power and they making us same as them.
How they can teach a Ho. , when there intention is just ward pt related work must be done so they won’t have any disturbance.
God help this profession ….
I don’t think it’s your “broken phone screen”, but I suppose we more or less get the gist of your rants. Hope you will not end up like the MOs.
Tho the english is not that good, there were some interesting points given. Need more of these exposure.
Surprisingly, I find your atrocious command of English more worrisome than the points you have raised. Honestly where did you graduate from?
This kind of poor attitude (bullying, lackadaisical in work, etc) happens in all government sectors in Malaysia. This is ingrained in our culture.
I was expecting hospitals like tawau or seri manjung to have issues like this not hospitals in the KL/Selangor.
Welcome to Malaysian Civil Service!
Oh lord ,please help him with his english, I cant believe that you are an actual medical doctor..
Lula. Look at your English.
You cannot have two dots at the end of your sentence, that’s a mistake please keep improve English 🙂
*Facepalm*
Lolzzz
Halifai is hiliarous. Got to admit he (or she) is a very frustraded “Ho”. To hell with Queen English, he (or she) is brave enough to write what is in his (her) mind. On other hand a big sighhhhhhhhhhhhh, does Halifai standard of English represents now a days new and freash medical professionals.
Why are people so surprised about the proficiency of English amongst doctors? This is the result of the education system we have, lots of doctors have poor command of the language. In fact, I think it’s pretty decent, I have seen a lot worse. At least I can understand Halifai quite well, in fact, I can almost hear the melayu behind the translated English!
I do agree with jk. Her English though a broken can be understood. I m sure my spoken Malay will be broken when I return to Malaysia. I used to represent my school in debating for Malay and English and score A1 for Malay (the only one in my school that year). But my Malay is utterly hopeless now though I can still understand it pretty well. I m sure I will struggle to take a proper history in Malay for the first few months!
I agree our education system is not helping. A lot of my English is learnt from church (I speak Hokkien at home) and of course doing a degree taught in English helps!
I think Halifai’s writing is more of a chinese school product
Now that you mentioned it, you may be right. I think I can also hear the Chinese voice behind the English!
Hey guys, I just celebrated my big 30! pictures up on my blog. Just click on my name. It will link you to my blog. Cheers!
It is not appropriate to talk about the English proficiency of Halifai .As JK mentioned,it is about the quality of our education system and he/she is just a product of it. This is a common scenario nowadays,be it graduates of local public or private unis. What is important is the points that he/she mentioned.It took a lot of courage to write.
HI doc, Is it true that jpa scholars will be given priority to do postgraduation in Malaysia? or it is the same for all the doctors? Thank you
No such thing. Your undergraduate JPA scholarship do not have any role in postgraduate training
Dr. are medical students from public universities given priority in their postgraduate program?
On paper, no but generally, since most of these students know the university lecturers well, bias ness do occur
English English and English …here we come on our track.
And yes , about my phone screen , I have no intentions to proof and no intention to lie….
What is Medical doctor ? Is he/ she factory of medical practice or factory of English.
This is the same attitude I was trying to explain Dr Pagalavan .
See an example, here a bunch of junior doctors are trying to raise voice and hoping for a better future , so that we can be proud of medical profession and our seniors are so so relax and free that they are pointing out English issue….
Same happen during our rounds,,, mos and spec will be holding phone ( wassup, fb, tweets) talking about attitude gratitude and bla bla.
Please English fellows, make a better future, don’t just say this bully is a trend. You want to improve your English but why can’t you just improve ur Trent and ur profession.
Dr Pagalavan nothing I wrote is pointing to you…it’s about butch of people who just want to disclose topic by talking about English or taking salary from govt and follow the system , PLEASE TRY TO BE LOYAL TO PROFESSION AND TRY IMPROVE THE SYSTEM , AS ANOXIOUSLY TRYING IMPROVE ENGLISH….
BE DOCTORS AND LEADERS NOT ENGLISH PROF…..
MALAYSIA WILL NEVER CHANGE UNLESS WE HAVE THIS LAZY PEOPLE,
IS OK SOON WE WILL BECOME MOs and spec and we will do same with your kids or their kids….don’t change the system , but yes please improve social life and English that’s most necessary things 🙂
Yes I can clearly hear the Chinese behind her English now! Well spotted!
Jeffrey luk.
Please correct your English.
Where have you learned this standard of English.
The sentence is,
” yes, now I can clearly hear the Chinese language behind her English language . well spotted! ”
Anyway, I am not Chinese.;)
Better luck next time…
The reality is, the standard of English is deplorable now and Halifai is just one of thousands with the same fate. As long as he/she is able to make himself/herself more or less understood, I personally think it’s acceptable, given the overall poor standard of spoken and written English among the majority of malaysians who are in their twenties and thirties now.
It is only unfortunate to not realise one’s own poor command of the language and then further aggravate it by trying to correct another’s.
Lol
As I said, it is the system. You can try to change it but I will bet you that you will only get frustrated! I have done that before and gave up!
Yes Sir, well said,
It is very difficult to change this system , lets see what will be the future.
Hey guys I have just updated my blog on my short break in the Lake District this weekend. Click on my name and it will link you there!
Hey guys…..i wanna ask u guys something…..how many of you guys have …doctors “clubs” or”get togethers” or whatever….. at your hospitals or outside….where HOs and MOs and Specialists come together..?
haha, almost none!
Yes, my colleagues come for my birthday dinner including one of my consultants. I am a SHO (or MO). I have had coffee with my cardiology consultant in town as well with his family. He calls me buddy even in the hospital and asked me to address him by his first name rather than his surname with the prefix Dr. I m not sure if you will get such environment in Malaysia though.
LOL……sure like to hear more comments……rgds
Sorry Jeffrey Luk…..i didnt mean …your private birthday and coffee sessions. I meant informal “get-together” of HOs , MOs and Specialist….just to get to know each other as colleagues…which wld also help to relax n build a better repo.
Oh yes it is actually more common. We play football together all the doctors in the leisure centre on every Tuesday for an hour after work. Sometimes we go out for a pint together after work. And of course once a year we have a hospital summer ball where all doctors and nurses get together. Is this what you are asking for?
And yes these activities involve all Ho,MO and specialist. The hierarchy is very broken down now here. We all mix together well even at work.
Are you sure you still want to come back to work in Malaysia? 🙂
I may not be able to change the system but at least I can make the experience better for my juniors if I come back as a specialist. I won’t be carrying any baggage like other doctors who have been scarred by their experience in Malaysia.
I don’t see this surplus of doctor they’ve been talking about. I’m currently working in HSI, JB and it seems that most of the major departments are lacking in man power.
I had explained this many times before. Usually, during this part of the year, an artificial “shortage” will occur as most graduates from private universities and some public universities would not have graduated yet. Furthermore, each hospital has a limit on the number of housemen they can take based on the number of consultants they have. HSI is still under the category of district hospital!
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