As I have written numerous times in my MMA article and here, in my blog, the mushrooming of medical and nursing colleges in this country has made a mockery of the education system. Not only there are so many nursing colleges in Malaysia(106 as mentioned in this article below), the quality of their products are questionable. I was told that you can get into a nursing college even if you have failed SPM! You don’t have to pay anything as the college will apply for PTPTN loan for you.
I heard that due to shortage of teaching staff, they have started to recruit nurses who are just 1 year in service to become clinical tutors. What experience do they have? Some colleges have tutors from other countries like Myanmar and Philipines. Since I am in medical field, I can clearly see the poor quality of these nurses. They don’t even understand a word of english at times. The mentality is so low that sometimes you feel like you are talking to a wall.
It is good that the government is going to stop new nursing colleges but will this solve the problem? The existing nursing colleges itself are producing thousands of nurses of doubtful quality and they will keep producing them to get profit. So the number of new nurses will continue to be produced by these colleges, or may even increase! Even now, there are fresh nurses who are unable to find a job as the government service seem to be saturated with them. To absorb more nurses into the civil service, the government decided to promote more nurses to sister’s post. Thus, junior nurses ended up being promoted to sisters so much so that now we have 2 sisters in each wards!! Quality ? you know the answer!
In another 5 years time, the same situation will occur to the medical doctors. We can already see it coming with the poor quality of doctors that are being produced over the last 3-5 years. Be very worried! these are the people who are going to treat you in near future, hopeless nurses and doctors (sorry to say this, but it is the truth!)
No more nursing schools from July
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said a moratorium was necessary to prevent an oversupply of nurses and other problems arising from graduate unemployment.
“The move will also prohibit the launch of new diploma programmes in nursing as the ministry wants existing providers to concentrate more on degree courses.
“There will be no more private institutions providing nursing courses as we are already on the right track to achieve the recommended World Health Organisation nurse to population ratio of 1:200,” he said in a press conference at Hotel Istana yesterday.
“The moratorium will be in place as long as the supply of nurses meets market demand.”
Malaysia’s current nurse to population ratio is 1:490.
Speaking after launching Masterskill Education Group Sdn Bhd’s prospectus in conjunction with its proposed listing on the main market of Bursa Malaysia, Mohamed Khaled said Malaysia had enough institutions to achieve the ideal ratio.
“There are 106 higher education institutions that train nurses in the country and we (the ministry) want them to concentrate on improving quality,” he said.
“Currently, most programmes in nursing and the allied health sciences are at diploma level and Malaysia requires more trainers and students at degree levels in these fields,” he added.
Of the 106 institutions, 66 are private providers, 11 are public institutions and the rest are run by the Health Ministry.
He added that established private higher education providers like Masterskill could contribute to Malaysia’s aspiration of becoming the region’s education hub by recruiting more international students.
Pagalavan's Avatar 
“The mentality is so low that sometimes you feel like you are talking to a wall.”
Mean but its the truth.
Good day Doc
Sadly most of the good nurses in Malaysia are working abroad .Till the working conditions here improve and less bureaucracy takes place you can be sure they will not return .
Hai Sir,
When you said 2 sisters in each wards!! Quality ? you know the answer! I agreed with that, it is truth. there are some wards that not up to 20 bedded, have 2 sisters and some bigger ward like orthopedic with 36 bedded plus extension beds up to total of 40 -45 beds with only one sister. When I think, what kind of management is that. Some ward, the staff have no urgency, some ward the staff work like a robots, non stop. When you mentioned that due to shortage of teaching staff, they have started to recruit nurses who are just 1 year in service to become clinical tutors. What experience do they have? One interviewed had be done to one nursing tutor, she finish her degree and only have few months of experience in one of the private hospital. You see!! what kind of experience she have? How is the output of the newly graduate nurses? It is really sad to say that. I can imagine that, when I lie on the bed, what will happened? What kind of management from the houseman and the medical officer and nursing care from the nurses they will given to me? Am I become better or worsening?