How ironic? Is our PM saying that the medical education in Malaysia is useless to the extend that the government still need to send students to other countries like Russia, Indonesia, Egypt, Poland, Jordan and even Czech republic? I think the “foot in the mouth” syndrome from our Health Minister has infected our PM!! Reading this news in the Star really made me wonder whether our PM knows what he is talking about ( similar to the John Hopkins fiasco). Who approved all these medical schools and send JPA and MARA scholars, even before it is accredited by MQA and MMC?
I am very sure this speech was not written by him. Usually, most speeches by VIPs are written by the inviting body and sent to the political secretary of the VIP for vetting proposes. I have written a speech for Minister of Health on behalf of SCHOMOS when we invited him to the opening ceremony of SCHOMOS workshop in 2006. Unfortunately, as a leader he should vet through the details before reading it. I know that Dr Mahathir is the only person who writes his own speech.
However, in this speech he has directly indicated that we have too many sub par medical schools producing “jaguh kampung” graduates. I wonder whether our Ex-DG has anything to do with this speech, being the VC of MAHSA? very suspicious indeed!
PM: Local medical schools need to offer high quality education
By MAZWIN NIK ANI
KUALA LANGAT: Medical schools should get serious about offering high quality medical education to lessen the need to send students abroad, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The Prime Minister said fewer schools offering high quality medical education would be a far better strategy than having too many offering sub-standard education.
He said adhering to basic requirement for accreditation was insufficient, adding it was far better to benchmark the quality of medical education with the best schools in the world.
“Once we have achieved that, there may no longer be a need to send our students abroad as they can get equal or better medical education locally,” he said at the ground breaking ceremony of Mahsa University College in Bandar Saujana Putra.
The Prime Minister said, currently, some students were sent to sub-standard medical colleges overseas and this had become a perennial problem.
He added medical schools should also re-examine their curriculum not only to impart medical knowledge and clinical skills but also psychosocial, communicative, interpersonal and people skills to help their students become good healers and safe and competent clinicians.
Najib said the Health Ministry should forge formal relationships with proven medical schools for training opportunities where medical institutions could provide specialist care in smaller public hospitals and the ministry would upgrade facilities to cut down backlog of cases for minor surgery and emergencies.
Najib advised aspiring doctors to have passion and a genuine interest in taking care of the sick, at whatever cost, and be prepared to toil and sacrifice irrespective of time.
“The vocation of health care is not for everyone although we know that many students aspire to become doctors. Good doctors are not only those who are competent and skillful but those who are caring, compassionate and motivated to provide service above self.
“Malaysia requires the services of healthcare providers who are well trained and well mannered. They must be beyond reproach. They must be professionals who are ethical and put the welfare and care of their patients above everything else,” he said.
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doctor, im a 4th year medical student, currently studying in Padjadjaran University , Bandung Indonesia. What is your opinion about House Officers graduated from Indonesia? Are they competent enough compared to those from other countries?
depends from which university you graduate from. Padjadjaran and Gajahmada are OK.
Dr, i have enter a medical school locally and i am bonded to jpa. I dont have the passion of being a doctor. I enter medical school because of my family. Long ago, i wanna quit but because of the scholarship, i did not quit. The contract stated that if i quit, i will have to pay back RM250k. I just study for few sem and the scholarship that i receive from jpa is less than RM20k now. I tried to love medicine and enjoy it but i failed to do so. I can grad n maybe just go on like that as a doctor in the future. But i dont want to be a bad doctor, because this profession is about dealing with life. Only doctors with passion n interest will be a good doctor. Because we only live once, altho i am lucky to get this course n get jpa scholarship, but this is really not wad i like. Is there any way for me to quit without having to pay back this much compensation? Or should i continue even without the passion?
You can actually talk to your university and JPA to change course. Usually they will entertain
Ok, thanks.