Wait a minute, I thought I heard there was a moratorium of new medical schools, announced last year!! Then what is this advertisement doing in The Star today?

 University College Shahputra has decided to start a medical school. Anyone wants to become the dean? They have just advertised for academic position!!

Adding to my latest count , this will be the 36th medical school in the country with a total of almost 40+ concurrent programmes……………. for a population of 27 million!!

They have also added the following advert on their website:

I have said this many times that Foundation studies is a way for the college to attract students and to keep them in the college for various courses. Even though the curriculum is monitored by LAN but the exams are not standardised. The college themselves set, conduct and mark the papers.

I also saw this 2 page comment from MAHSA college about the jobless nursing graduates in the Star today:

I find it rather interesting of how the college is trying to justify things. Our Ex DG is currently the VC of MAHSA University. They claim that their nurses are highly employable and have inserted the names of nurses who have gained employment in foreign countries on the 2nd page of their “advert”. The confusion it seems is due to diploma in healthcare and diploma in paramedic (by other colleges) which are being referred to as “nursing” course. However, according to the info they have provided, the nurses to population ratio currently is at 1: 384 and the country is targeting 1: 200 by 2020. Now, let me ask you: if you are producing 12, 000 nurses per year now, when do you thing you will achieve the magic figure of 1: 200? I would say, probably in another 2 years ! So, isn’t the jobless scenario which is already beginning to happen now will only get worst?

God save the country……………………….

Bitter pill for pharmacy grads

By REGINA LEE regina@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: It is not just nurses who are finding it hard to get job placement in public hospitals pharmacy graduates are also in a similar quandary.   However, unlike the job shortage for nurses, which was blamed on oversupply and not meeting market demands, pharmacy graduates believe that their applications for placement were unsuccessful due to issues connected with the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).   Pharmacy graduates have to serve a mandatory training placement at public hospitals before they can obtain a practising licence.   The Health Ministry’s previous requirement was a one-year training and three-year attachment stint in public hospitals.

Last October, the three-year attachment condition was slashed to one. Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the SBPA should not have any effect on the intake of pharmacy graduates for training purposes.

“This cannot be happening. They shouldn’t be treated like that and I sympathise with their plight,” he said, adding that he would raise the matter with ministry officials.   Health Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman pledged to resolve the problem by Feb 24. “Pharmacists, doctors and dentists must do compulsory government service.

“The problem (of not getting placements) has nothing to do with the allocation of places in public hospitals or the salary scheme,” he said, adding that he would meet the PSD today to discuss the issue.   Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Datuk Nancy Ho said there were about 8,900 registered pharmacists in the country, with a pharmacy-patient ratio of 1:3,200.

“This is still far from the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of one pharmacist for every 2,000 people,” she said, adding that almost 1,000 pharmacy graduates were being churned out each year.

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Monday February 13, 2012

Their dream of becoming a pharmacist remains distant

PETALING JAYA: After six years of studying, Sara had been eager to fulfil her life-long dream of becoming a pharmacist.   But that dream remains distant — she has been unemployed over the past eight months.

She is among possibly hundreds of other pharmacy graduates in the same boat.   A graduate of Indonesia’s Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sara (not her real name) said her 11 coursemates had also applied for their one-year public hospital training stint last August.     In a quandary: Many pharmacy graduates have applied for a training stint in public hospitals but have yet to get placement.

“We were told by our seniors that it would only take about a month to get a placement in a public hospital.   “I was called for an interview at the end of August and I am still waiting for news,” she told The Star.

Each time she called the Public Service Department (PSD), she was told that the delay was due to the review of the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).   “While waiting, I worked at a private pharmacy to gain some experience. But I resigned after just one month when told that the offer letter would be issued anytime,’’ she lamented.   John, another pharmacy graduate, said he had been trying to get a placement for his one-year training after graduating from Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde last July.   Like Sara, he applied for his training in August and thought that he would land a placement in a public hospital by November.   “Most companies would want their part-timers to commit for at least two months. If I had known that I would be unemployed for more than six months, I would have definitely found a job,” he said, adding that up to 40 graduates from his batch had also not got placements.   “When we studied to become pharmacists, people were always saying that there was a shortage in the field. But it has been crazy just waiting for a placement,’’ he added.

1 year ago, I wrote this article : https://pagalavan.com/2011/01/02/for-future-doctors-what-if/. It is about what happens if you quit housemanship. Recently I came across a blog of a houseman who I presume has resigned as a doctor due to reasons mentioned in his blog : http://chroniclesofaloner.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/a-letter-to-the-dg/

At the same time, he has also written some suggestion of what you can do if you quit housemanship http://chroniclesofaloner.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/life-after-medicine/. I found it quite interesting and decided to mention it in my blog.

As for his reasons for quitting housemanship, I have been saying it all the while that medicine is not about having good life. Recently, I received an email from a houseman who is thinking about quitting medicine. This is what she wrote:

“Despite financial constrain, I borrowed almost 200k from various place, worked part-time in fast food shops and do a few odd jobs to earn money, to complete the mission which i have started. I studied day and night and obtained decent results to work as a doctor in Malaysia. I came to Malaysia with a lot of dreams. Good job, good money and good life. I didn’t begin my job properly. Because, i’m confuse with many things. What i learn partially different than what I am doing. I am trying to learn. But they are not giving me space to grow. Money doesn’t matter anymore. My life has gone. Now, because of these unethical educated bullies, i have lost my confidence, self-esteem and dignity in front of a lot of people. I can earn money anywhere. But not my LIFE. I scared and worried that I will be mentally ill through the torture that I am going through at hospital. I might be just one of the victims. But, still I am. Enough is Enough. Unless the system is reviewed and properly structured, i bet more mentally and emotionally ill doctors will be produced. Others can name me anything. But they can never feel, what i does deep within me. This is definitely not part and parcel of doctors life. DOCTORS don’t deserves this humiliation. They deserve better treatment. Professional must go through professional and ethical training. In short, we want doc’s Life and not dog’s Life. ”

I told her that the biggest mistake she made is thinking that she is going to have “Good job, good money and good life” as a doctor. That never happens! If you go back to all my postings since 2010 under For Future Doctors series, I have constantly said that if you are doing medicine for these reasons, you will definitely be frustrated. Whether there are seniors who are bullies or not, the job is tough and there is no such thing as good life. The shift duties has definitely reduced the workload but not responsibility. Your responsibility increases as you go higher in medical field. I told her that I work 24hrs a day and 7 days a week single-handedly. How can I handle this ? because I have gone thru tougher times before! Taking huge loans is not a good idea either!

I am sure many of you wanted to rant something after reading my articles over the last few days regarding jobless nurses, brainless Ministry of Health, compulsory rural posting for specialists and very soon, jobless doctors!

Well, in Johor we have a Land For Rant! You can come here and rant whatever you want! Sounds like Speaker’s Corner? It is situated opposite Setia Tropika housing estate when you take the old road from Pontian to Gelang Patah/second link.

IT’s a big land indeed!

Today, Berita Harian  made a front page report that KKM has made it compulsory for all specialist, especially the newly qualified,  to serve in rural areas for atleast 6 months. The following circular below was issued on 5/01/2012.

It also says that all Housemen who completes housemanship in Klang Valley will be transferred out (page 16) and any transfer back will only be entertained after 3 years of service except in certain special situation (page 20). For those who are being transferred to East Malaysia, you may request to transfer back in 2 years. Of course, if you are accepted into Master’s programme, you will be transferred to the training centre.

In July 2006, I wrote an article in MMA Magazine ” Future of Government Doctors: Die Another Day? “ https://pagalavan.com/my-mma-articles/july-2006future-of-government-doctors-die-another-day/. This was my last sentence:  “There will come a time that we would be told that “if you don’t like the system, you may leave”. Since the “World Is Not Enough” we would be asked to go all over the country for promotions since the posts available are going to be limited. We can “Never Say Never Again”. The administrators are NOT going to be “The Spy Who Loved Us” but rather they would become “Goldfingers” and “Thunderballs”. In near future (not long, just another 5-7 years!), we are going to become “Dr. No”– body and since “You Only Live Once” and not twice, we will “Die Another Day”……………or we may just end up playing “Casino Royale”…………..”     How true has it become!

Since Housemanship is being given on contract basis, it makes it much easier for MOH/SPA to force people to go to rural areas. If you don’t want to go, you may become jobless. Only if you accept the offer, the contract may be renewed or you may be accepted into permanent civil service

As for specialist, you may be transferred out to rural hospitals after your gazettement for a 6 months posting. In “circular” language, 6 months means 1 year as the paper work to transfer back will take a few months. They may make this compulsory in order for you to be accepted into subspeciality training programme. Overall, you may need to wait 1 year after gazettement for subspeciality training, depending on the waiting list. From 2011, all specialist who were accepted into subspeciality training will be bonded for atleast 3 years, not including the 5-7 years bond for your Master’s programme.

I feel that all doctors should serve in rural areas during their life as a doctor. You will learn alot especiallly about social circumstances and working with limited facilities. However, I feel that a doctor who had already served the rural area as a MO etc, should not be forced to do it again.

As I keep saying, life is not going to be easy for future doctors………….

circular : PANDUAN PENEMPATAN DAN PERTUKARAN PEGAWAI

Wajib ke luar bandar

2012/02/08

Doktor pakar dikehendaki bertugas 6 bulan di pedalaman

KUALA LUMPUR: Doktor pakar yang menjalani latihan di kawasan bandar kini diwajibkan berkhidmat di luar bandar dan pedalaman termasuk Sabah dan Sarawak selama enam bulan sebelum diberi pilihan untuk bertukar berkhidmat ke kawasan lain.

Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan, Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman, berkata arahan itu terkandung dalam Panduan Penempatan Doktor Pakar bagi Tempoh Enam Bulan di Hospital Luar Bandar yang dikeluarkan Disember lalu bagi mengimbangi penempatan doktor di luar bandar dan pedalaman.

This is what I call ” Foot in the Mouth” syndrome. The nurses issue made the headline today in the Star. I still remember about less than 10 years ago, the headline was ” Shortage of Nurses”. Then came the euphoria of private nursing colleges mushrooming in every corner of the country.

As usual our Health Minister does not seem to know what he is talking about. There are 2 group of nurses: the diploma holders and the post basic nurses. All nursing colleges including private and government funded only produce diploma holders and they are known as staff nurses!! Only after they complete their basic nursing board certification, they can apply for post basic training to become specialise nurses in maternity, cardiac, neuro, ICU etc. There is no such thing as specialised training at diploma level even before they can become staff nurses. ALL of them only undergo “general” training”.

So, in order for them to undergo specialise training, they need to get a job in the first place. So, what the hell is the MOH talking about. The short term knee jerk reaction will be to promote some nurses to higher level which is vacant and creat more vacancy at the lower level. Again, this will not be enough to absorb all, as the MOH nursing graduates themselves is more than enough to fill up this post at the moment.

And they are also blamming the private colleges now! I mean, who the hell in the first place approved all these coleges to produce such a large number of nurses, majority of substandard quality? The private colleges are here to make money/profit and not for some social service. This is a well known fact! The same situation is also happening to radiographers, physiotherapist, dispensers etc. Can MOH kindly look into this as well.

Gosh, probably 3-5 years from now, I will writing the same thing as above again, but for doctors!! At least the nurses have Nursing Board examination for quality control!

Mismatch between training and market needs for specialised nurses

Finally, one of the main stream newspaper has brought this issue to the public : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/3/nation/10668315&sec=nation, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/3/nation/10667498&sec=nation. But I am very sure nothing will happen. One of the reason why the government issued a moratorium of nursing colleges in 2010 is because they are well aware that they have put their foot into their mouth. They had approved too many nursing colleges without looking at the actual requirement. A knee jerk reaction in the name of shortage of nurses!! you can’t pull back the license that you had given.

The same will very soon happen to the doctors. I am still hearing a lot of people telling me that doctors will never become jobless. To be frank, there is nothing special about being a doctor. No government promises everyone a job! The government never asked you to become a doctor and thus you cannot blame the government. That’s the reason the government also issued a moratorium for medical schools last year but it is just too late! 36 medical schools for a population of 27 million with almost 40+ medical programmes ( some schools has up to 4 concurrent programmes). We should be in Guinness World Book of Records for having the highest number of medical schools per capita population and the country with the fastest growing medical schools in the world( 28 medical schools in 12 years)!! Malaysia boleh mah………….

The situation of medical graduates is more complicated than any other profession. If you do not get a post for housemanship, you will never be able to work as a doctor. Of course, not forgetting the amount of money that you spend to become a doctor and the fact that if you don’t get a job here, you can’t just apply to any other country as your degree is not recognised anywhere else, something peculiar to the field of medicine.

Jobs in nursing hard to come by for graduates

PETALING JAYA: It is difficult not only for diploma graduates but also degree-holders to get a job in nursing.

Some have ended up becoming insurance agents, tuition teachers and sales assistants while others are involved in part-time businesses as they wait for a nursing vacancy to open.

Hartini Haron, 25, from Sabah, said she graduated one-and-a-half years ago with a nursing degree from a public university but had yet to get a job in the field even though she had sent in “countless” applications.

“I am disappointed with the whole situation. We studied for four years and now, we can’t even get a job,” she said.

A few of her friends got a nursing job almost a year after completing their studies, said Hartini, who does whatever part-time work that she can get.

Hartini said new graduates with no working experience as a nurse found it tough competing with graduate nurses who had working experience.

Nurses from the Health Ministry who continued their studies for a degree were easily absorbed into the system, she added.

Another public university nursing graduate, Khairun Nisa Mohammad, 25, from Ampang said she received an offer from a private hospital after nine months of unemployment.

“The Government must provide job opportunities. If not, why did they provide nursing courses?” she asked, adding that only one of her course mates got a job as a lecturer with the Health Ministry.

Before getting her current job, Khairun Nisa said she worked as an assistant merchandiser.

“Some of my Chinese friends have become nurses in Singapore,” she said.

She said only two of her 30-odd classmates got jobs as nursing lecturers with the Health Ministry while the rest had not been able to get a nursing job and worked as sales assistants, insurance agents and tuition teachers.

Sofia Yusof, 25, who completed her nursing degree in July 2010, said she accepted a nursing job in March last year at a private hospital in Johor but was being paid according to the salary scale for diploma holders She added that she could not get a nursing job via the Public Services Commission.

“I have to support my parents who are old and pay for my study and car loans,” she said.

Another graduate who wanted to be known only as Nooraniza, 25, from Johor, said she had sent her applications to the commission, but there was no vacancy at the moment.

Desperate for a job, she accepted a nursing job at a private hospital which was only willing to pay a “diploma scheme” salary.

“I took up the job because I didn’t want to burden my father,” said Nooraniza, whose father is a crane driver.

S. Gnanapragasam, 62, said his 22-year-old daughter and several of his friends’ children were having difficulty getting nursing jobs after completing their diploma courses.

He added: “They spent several years studying and in the end, they are struggling to find jobs. My daughter finally found a job but she is not doing what she was trained to do.”

Nursing job woes cut deep

KUALA LUMPUR: Private nursing students are in a pickle with many struggling to find jobs after passing their exams.

According to a Government study, more than 54% of the private nursing diploma graduates could not find a job three to four months after graduating in 2010, compared to only 21.7% in 2008.

A total of 37,702 students were enrolled in nursing diploma courses in 61 private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) in 2010.

As of Dec 2010, the total number of trained working nurses in the country stood at 61,110, with 21,118 working in the private sector.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar said the party had received many complaints from parents and graduates who could not find a job even after a few years.

He called for a freeze on the intake of new nursing students in private institutions until existing graduates secure jobs.

Jeyakumar said there were graduates who ended up working as receptionists or store clerks.

“With 37,500 students enrolled, we are looking at an average of 12,000 students graduating a year. The need for new nurses in the private sector is only about 1,500 a year, as only 5% to 10% of those working in the private sector will leave their existing jobs.

“It is also not easy for private graduates to get a job in the Government as only 438 IPTS nursing diploma graduates served with the Health Ministry in 2010,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

On average, a three-year nursing diploma programme at an IPTS would cost about RM50,000. Most IPTS offer full PTPTN loans to their nursing students.

Dr Jeyakumar called on the Government to absorb the loans for those who could not find jobs within a year of passing their Nursing Board exams.

He added that private institutions, whose students had low pass rates in the Nursing Board exams, should not be allowed to offer medical courses.

Government statistics showed that the number of graduates who took the Nursing Board examinations had increased from 4,025 in 2008 to 7,665 in 2010.

However, the pass percentage had fallen from 86.5% to 70.1% during the same period. Those studying in public institutions of higher learning had a pass rate of between 94% and 99%.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin had announced a moratorium on new nursing schools in 2010.