The last I wrote an article with the title above was in February 2014. Since then many new developments are taking place behind the doors. ON 9th June 2014, an article appeared in the Star regarding the limited number of post available for graduates (see below). This is a fact and the government has finally come to terms with it. They finally realised that they had approved too many medical schools over a short period of time. I had also written what transpired during the last MMA AGM held end of last month, over HERE. Prof Adeeba is the Dean of UM and also a MMC council member. Thus she knows exactly what she is talking about. She has also reiterated the need for a common entry exam to decide who will get employment and who will not. A committee has already been formed between MMC and MOH to decide on this as well as the implementation date. She also suggested that the number of medical students and programs should be reduced by a staggering 70% !!! Oh my, didn’t I ring the bell almost 8 years ago?
Now, let’s look at the latest MMC Annual Report for 2013 over HERE. I think everyone should read this report. The number of new graduates registered for housemanship for 2013 was a staggering 4472, a 42% increase from 2009. Local graduates contributed about 60% of the total graduates. It was also noted in the report that more and more foreign graduates are returning back to the country for Housemanship due to limited job opportunities in other countries. I had also mentioned this several times before. The number of NEW MOs has also increased tremendously in tandem with the increase in housemen. It increased from 2592 in 2010 to 3754 in 2013, a 45% increase (including those returning after housemanship overseas).
REMEMBER: there are still 20 medical colleges which are yet to produce any graduates ! In page 62 of the report, these 20 medical programs have not been accredited as of 31/12/2013. Imagine what the number of graduates will be when ALL these medical colleges starts to produce graduates. Something that many people never believed would happen, will happen in this country : jobless doctors!
It is also interesting to note that the number of APC issued to practising doctors has increased from 24 783 in 2011 to 30 057 in 2013 (page 33), a 20% increase in 2 years. However, the increase in the number of doctors in private sector is only 927 compared to 4347 in public sector between the years mentioned. The MMC has reported that more doctors are now staying back in government sector. These again will make the number of available post for new doctors very much limited in public sector. Due to declining income of private doctors with increasing competitiveness, less and fewer doctors are resigning from civil service. A random survey done by MMA showed that almost 70% of General Practitioners are earning a net income of below RM 7K, despite working 11 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Even in UK, many graduates are finding their salaries declining year by year. An interesting article over HERE (see below), says that medicine and dentistry are some of the fields that are worst affected. Whenever the supply exceeds demand, salaries will go down and job opportunities will decline. The same will happen to our civil service in the future when our government reduces some of the allowances to doctors such as Critical Allowance which is not a permanent allowance. The government will not be able to give job to everyone due to the financial implications.
Finally, another interesting phenomenon was the fact that more and more doctors are becoming sick! A total of 334 cases were referred to the Medical review Panel in 2013, compared to 49 cases in 2009. The MMC has to form another committee to handle these cases, known as Fitness to Practise committee. If you look at page 51, you will be shocked to see the type of cases being investigated. These could be only the tip of the iceberg! That’s the reason why I keep saying that you should never do medicine for wrong reasons. Parents should also stop forcing their children to do medicine. From my friends in psychiatric department, the most common cause for housemen and doctors being referred to their department is due to depression. And the reasons for depression is always “doing medicine for wrong reasons” and ” parents told to do” !
Well, the writing is on the wall. It is up to the readers to ponder upon the future that this country is heading due to poor human resource planning. The MMLE committee has been formed in MMC (Page 24) and has already conducted 2 meetings and has submitted proposals.
Meanwhile, it’s time to watch Germany vs Portugal in World Cup 2014………. it’s raining goals in this World Cup……………..
OLA OLE Brazil……………………..
Limited training slots available for medical grads
BY LOH FOON FONG
PETALING JAYA: Medical students who slogged through their five-year year programme may just find that places are limited in the training hospitals.
Senior doctors foresee that a selection process might be imposed on medical graduates in the near future in view of the high number of 5,000 graduating each year.
Students may stand a better chance of getting into the limited number of training hospitals as housemen if they graduate from better ranking schools.
Training hospitals, where graduates planning to practise locally have to undergo housemanship, could only cope with about 3,000 new housemen each year.
Healthcare sources said that about 4,000 to 5,000 medical students would graduate annually, with more than half returning from overseas.
While those graduating from local universities, especially public universities, and established overseas universities have fewer issues entering the healthcare system, those graduating from foreign universities with a poor track record might face difficulties.
Universiti Malaya Medical Faculty dean Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (pic) said the Malaysian Medical Council was considering introducing a common licensing examination for all graduates to ensure that only those with adequate training were given positions in these hospitals.
“There may not be enough houseman and medical officer posts. The Health Ministry may select those from schools with a proven track record,” she said.
A source said training hospitals in the Klang Valley, for instance, were accredited with multiple private medical schools, as well as some public universities, resulting in doctors being overstretched and too many students practising on patients.
He said the Cabinet should reduce the number of programmes and the number of students entering local medical schools by 70%.
Dr Adeeba said funding bodies too need to be selective and send students only to better ranking schools.
“My concern is that our top students are being sent abroad to universities of much lesser ranking than local medical schools,” she said.
Dr Adeeba said that while the various authorities need to do proper human resource planning, parents should wake up to the fact that there would not be adequate posts for doctors in government hospitals and hence, should not push their children into studying medicine if they did not have the aptitude for it.
She cited a number of students who struggled with the demands of the five-year programme, which they had no interest in.
A senior doctor, who declined to be named, said the situation would only get worse each year if nothing was done.
The Cabinet, he said, should start capping the number of students entering medical schools.
Graduate salaries tumble in the UK
Published: 13 June 2014 | Updated: 13 June 2014 5:14 PM
The United Kingdom has always been a lucrative study destination for students all over the world including those from Malaysia. Having some of the best universities in the world including the likes of Oxford and Cambridge, there are immense opportunities for employment not only in the UK but elsewhere in the world including the home countries of students.
Hence, students have been opting for UK as a popular study destination but as of late, it has been found that studying abroad might not be as lucrative as it used to be. So let us find out what the latest trends are and the possible reasons behind these trends.
Rising cost of education
The cost of education in the UK has been rising steadily and even in the current year, expert projections estimate a hike of about 2% where the current average cost of a degree stands at 8, 647 pounds (RM47, 203) per year.
This basically means that the average cost of a typical 3-year undergraduate course will stand somewhere in the region of approximately 26, 000 pounds (RM141, 932).
Moreover, although there are provisions for loans, it has been reported that the average cost of repayments over time, especially for students in lower income jobs where they pay-off their loans slowly, could amount to as much as 100, 000 pounds over a period of 30 years after which the loans would be waived off.
Rising costs Vs Diminishing returns
If students are still attracted to studying in UK universities despite the spiralling costs, there is only hope for a better and much more secure future where students can look to gain back more than what they have spent in the long-term. However, the statistics reveal otherwise.
A study conducted by Complete University Guide showed that in the United Kingdom, graduate starting salaries have plummeted by a huge margin of 11% in the five-year period for which the study was conducted namely between 2007 to 2012.
This is not a new trend. The past 5 years have shown a continual drop in salaries, albeit at a much slower rate. In fact, the rate of decline was just 4% in the period between 2002 and 2007.
Reasons for the decline
Several reasons can be cited for such a decline and some of the most prominent ones are the rise in competition between graduates and the increasing number of graduates that are available for certain jobs.
With the abundant supply of graduates, employers do not have much incentive in raising the salaries. Rising inflation is another cause which erodes minor salary hikes.
The decline in the starting salary of graduates is not uniform, but varies across different sectors and segments.
For example, while the steepest decline in starting salaries can be seen in fields such as medicine and dentistry, other areas were able to keep up with the inflation rate, such as in library science and materials technology.
Advice for students
Students could certainly be perplexed by the state of affairs and get worried as to what steps they should take next – whether or not they should pursue an education from countries like the UK, spending so much time and at a high expense.
There is no definite solution and a decision such as this depends on many factors. Firstly, students need to see if the profession or area of study they wish to pursue has had a steady salary history as compared to elsewhere in the world. Students would also need to accommodate their personal financial circumstances and consider if the costs of such a degree is feasible.
There is no doubt that UK universities have world-class infrastructures, teaching facilities and students can certainly get a lot of exposure from students who are from different parts of the world.
Research also states that despite all odds, a person with a degree from a country with a prominent history in education – like the UK – certainly has advantage over his or her counterparts.
Hence, one should certainly take advantage of the available opportunities while taking heed of the factors mentioned in this article. – June 13, 2014.
* This article is courtesy of easyuni.com
– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/features/article/graduate-salaries-tumble-in-the-uk#sthash.uEw4oR0h.dpuf
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