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KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has demanded that the Public Service Department (PSD) explain its sudden move to stop sponsoring local university students who intend to study medicine here.
Its president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said that although there is a need to manage the number of medical graduates, abruptly stopping scholarships for medical studies might not be the way.
“Will this move affect the expertise that will be needed in the public healthcare sector in the near future and long term? What is the government’s policy on human resources planning for the public healthcare sector?
“We hope PSD will be able to share its projection of medical officers, specialists, allied healthcare personnel, and other healthcare staff that will be needed for the next five and ten years,” he said in a statement today.
“Even now, our country still has not met the recommended 1:400 doctor-to-patient ratio in public healthcare facilities. In some hospitals, the ratio can go up as high as one doctor to 1,000 patients and there are also shortages in the number of public healthcare specialists.”
In a statement yesterday, PSD had announced that medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy are among fields that it is not going to sponsor this year.
The other fields include education, and those that require students to take up licences such as piloting and diving, public university franchise programmes, and double degrees or twinning programmes, except those allowed.
“Also not sponsored are nursing programmes, para-medical and pre-service programmes, professional certifications like ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), and unsubsidised part-time, online, or long-distance programmes,” the department had reportedly said.
Fields that have been applied to must have full accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency or be recognised by a professional body, if applicable, it added.
PSD also said that it will only sponsor students pursuing first-degree studies in public universities, premier polytechnics, and government-linked universities that have been selected by the department for convertible loans.
This refers to loans that can be converted into full scholarships and exempted from repayments if the students serve in the public service after graduating.
Muruga Raj stressed that there needs to be sufficient planning of healthcare human resources, taking into consideration the needs and population growth.
“Sufficient time is also needed to train healthcare workers. Our worry is there might not be enough specialists in the future as the demand for specialist services are increasing and is expected to further increase due to an ageing population.
“Malaysia will reach ageing nation status in 2030 where 15% of its population will be 60 years or older. How are we preparing for this demographic change in our population?” he asked.
“Local university students wishing to pursue a career in medicine will still need the support and we should continue to support them as not all students come from families that are well off.” – The Vibes, March 26, 2023