The Nurses Training Scam

Some recent news :

Health Ministry to hire graduate nurses

• PUTRAJAYA: ..creating vacancies at government hospitals to absorb the large number of unemployed graduate nurses.
• “..promote those already in the system and the vacancies can then be filled up by the graduates”
• '..private institutions ..would need to streamline their syllabus to match the demands of the local health industry.'
• '..over 54% of private nursing diploma graduates could not find work ..'
• 70 private nursing colleges nationwide ..did not meet private sector demand for specialised nurses.

And another piece of news :

System needed to monitor quality of nursing grads’

• PETALING JAYA: ..system is needed to monitor the quality of nursing graduates and ensure ...competent
• “Nursing is a technical job. We do not know if they are getting proper practical work training.
• “Staff nurses and matrons have complained of poor quality nursing graduates,”
• ..Nursing Board examination....the passing percentage had decreased from 86.5% to 70.1% for the same period.
• '..37,702 students were enrolled in nursing courses in 61 IPTS in 2010'
• '..easy to enrol for nursing diploma even if the student did not have credits in all Science subjects.'

And finally :

• Nurse the real issues, not the symptoms
• Each year, some 12,000 enter marketplace but the demand for new nurses in the private sector is only about 1,500 a year.
• 'the Health Ministry only hired 438 of these diploma holders in 2010..'
• '..about how picky they are, their lack of soft skills, language competency, and their reluctance to serve beyond their own comfort zone. It is clear that many sign up to become nurses but see this simply as a way to earn an income ..'
• these are symptoms that reflect the lack of coordination among the various parties.
• a minimum of five SPM credits instead of three previously. ..one can even get into such courses without credits in all Science subjects.

My comments : Correction : it should be "UNEMPLOYABLE" nurses. So these kids got in with no credits in Science, no interest in Science, they were poorly trained and they are unemployable in the private sector (the market place). And the Minister suggests that we just absorb them into Government hospitals.

Look at the numbers - 12000 IPTS nursing graduates every year versus 1500 demand in the private sector. The Government only took in 438 of these kids. There is an overhang of 10,000 unemployable nurses each year.

I am not happy to say this, but starting today someone better start tracking the number of people who are going to die prematurely under the care of these poorly trained nurses in the Government hospitals. (In the meantime I think Dato Liow the Minister will be heading to the nearest private hospital for his own medical treatment).

Folks I think this nurses training issue is another scam. The papers are not telling the whole story. First things first. I have said it before. Everything in Malaysia is racial. So who are these nurses who have become unemployable? Malays? Chinese? Indians? Kadazans? Lets get straight to the point ok. Dont waste time.

One of the Ministers of Education - Khaled Noordin says the interest in Science is weakening. Again please say among whom? Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans? Everything is racial in Malaysia. Dont forget.

These nurses are also extremely deficient in English language skills. They definitely cannot seek employment overseas (Australia has a severe shortage of nurses). Nak batal PPSMI pula - lagi tipis peluang bagi budak budak kita. Now even the nurses are becoming unemployable in the private sector. They can become poorly paid, poorly trained nurses in Government hospitals where they can shout at the patients and maybe even harm patients through malpractise.

Some of them may turn up at my shop for 'Salesgirl Wanted' positions. Right now we already have two degree holders and two diploma holders (including trainees) working for us. In places like Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh even PhDs can become unemployed. I dont know if that is going to happen in Malaysia.

There is more to this nurses training scam. When I was in Government for a short while I used to meet "owners" of IPTS. They would come around asking for help. Their colleges suffered poor student enrolment. I think it was because of poor quality teachers, poor quality management skills, poor quality courses offered and everything else just poor quality lah. Because of this they suffered serious cash flow problems. They were in trouble.

So they would ask the Gomen to "outsource" some of the students from the Government universities and colleges (IPTA) to their IPTS. Of course these are scholarship and loan students whose fees were all taken care of. This was 'buta money' again. The same IPTS which could not attract enough paying students because of their poor quality was now getting Goverment scholarship students with fees fully paid. So they never improved much on the quality of education they offered. Its the curse of easy money again - it really kills their initiative.

Rosak lah negara kita. I believe this type of scam is going on now with some (not all) of the private nursing colleges. It now involves more people. Only this time around, they are taking advantage of the PTPTN loan scheme.

A few days ago I was cruising around a very upmarket gated community full of huge multi million Ringgit mansions. The property agent was pointing out the huge mansions to me. 'This house belongs to Mr So and So (an Indian name) he runs a private nurses training college'.

I thought 'Wow, the "private nurses training college" business must be doing well'. Then the very next day The Star reported about the private nursing colleges problem.

They are taking advantage of the PTPTN loans scheme. If the money is available, then semua boleh jadi. Kids who have only three credits and who do not even like Science are roped into the diploma courses. Once they are in, the college assists them to get the PTPTN loans. Easy money flows.

Obviously some of the PTPTN money was used to buy things like that huge mansion I saw. Less money is used to hire more qualified lecturers or instructors or provide better training. It is just an easy method for these college "owners" to get at the PTPTN money.

The PTPTN scheme is a very good scheme. It is really fantastic. For young people wanting to improve their lives through higher education it provides a life line. But we need better enforcement (we have more than enough rules and regulations I am sure) to make certain that money is not siphoned out by the unscrupulous.

In the past, even in the USA private colleges have taken advantage of easy money from the Government. In the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain States (which were poorer and where higher education was less reachable) the US Government subsidised college students.

Soon private colleges started enrolling farmhands and restaurant workers in college level classes because the US Government paid their fees. These were sometimes known as 'attendance classes'. They took the attendance of the students to claim the subsidies from the Government. Their quality of education was not all that great.

There must be enough enforcement of the rules to make sure this type of thing does not happen where the nursing colleges fleece the students of their PTPTN loans but dont train them enough. Why is there no enforcement? After the lembu condo caper we must check if the people in power (of awarding licenses, monitoring the private colleges etc) plus their family, or any of their cronies, friends, tennis partners etc. are also involved in this 'training nurses' business.

Very often that seems to be the undoing of many things.