Licensing exam for docs?

Subra says his ministry is considering several ideas aimed at improving health and medical care.

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is proposing that the government require doctors to pass a licensing examination before allowing them to practise in the country.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam has said that he would propose that Malaysia follow a system similar to the one used in the United States, where there is a qualifying exam for those who wish to practise medicine.

“If this idea is accepted, we have to ensure that those graduating from local and foreign universities have to go through a common exam,” he told FMT in recent interview.

However, he added, his ministry would need the cooperation of the Education Ministry and the Public Services Commission in order to push the proposal.

He also confirmed that the government would raise the minimum educational qualifications for students intending to pursue a medical degree.

At present, a student needs 4Bs in the core science subjects at SPM level and a CGPA score of 3.0 at the STPM/Matriculation level as the minimum requirement for acceptance into the medical programmes of local universities.

Dr Subramaniam said this needed to be reviewed to ensure that standards were not compromised.

However, he acknowledged that this would be difficult to enforce in cases of students going overseas for their degrees because Malaysia could not legally bind foreign institutions to impose minimum requirements.

He said the government would have to work out some legal mechanism to ensure that students going overseas would be subjected to the same requirements imposed upon those entering local universities.

Logistics

Dr Subramaniam also spoke of the country’s need for more specialist doctors, saying the government was providing “various avenues” for general physicians to get specialist training.

He said the total number of places for specialist training in local institutions had been increased from 300 to 1,000.

“We also want to provide more opportunities for the younger doctors to specialise in certain fields so that there will be a range of specialists to cater to future needs,” he added.

He also spoke of the current shortage of doctors, saying his ministry was particularly concerned about increasing their numbers in rural areas.

Malaysia has a doctor-population ratio of 1 to 600, whereas the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a ratio of 1 to 400.

But Dr Subramaniam said he was confident that Malaysia would reach the WHO ideal before 2020.