The costs and returns to medical education?

Since the publication of my scholarships offer to help students whose parents are earning less than RM4,000 per month a few days ago, my wife has received more than 50 applications for financial help and most of the applicants want to pursue a medical degree (which has the highest cost).

The sole purpose of writing this article is to help inform students who wish to study medicine, not to apply for my financial assistance. There are 40 medical colleges and about 500 university and colleges in Malaysia - all of them are lowering their entry requirements to compete for more students.

The tuition fee for a medical degree in Malaysia ranges between RM250,000 to RM1 million.

Among the cheapest are Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) and the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) with RM255,000 and RM250,000, respectively.

Meanwhile, those among the mid-range are Asia Metropolitan University (RM300,000), Mahsa University College (RM300,000), Malacca-Manipal Medical College (RM348,000), Monash University Sunway Campus (RM455,000) and Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (RM450,000).

Penang Medical College, on the other hand, is among the more expensive colleges with RM650,000 in tuition fees. Additionally, Perdana University offers costly degrees in the following varsities: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RM800,000) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (RM1,000,000).

All the above mentioned fees exclude accommodation, books, traveling costs, food, and other expenses which could easily add another RM100,000 to the total cost of studying medicine.

A student will require at least RM350,000 to complete a medical degree. Assuming he or she can get a RM150,000 National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan, he will still require RM250,000.

Furthermore, it is compulsory for all medical graduates to practise in a government hospital for five years to complete their housemanship. During this period, their salary can range between RM2,600 to RM4,000. As housemen, they would work for a minimum of 12 to 15 hours a day and after two years, their salary would gradually increase to RM4,000 per month.

When they are promoted as medical officers, their salaries would be around RM4,500 to RM5,000. Then after the final year, they have an option to continue their career in the government service or go private.

However, after 12 years and spending a minimum of RM350,000, is it worth pursuing a medical degree in Malaysia just to earn RM5,000 to RM6,000 per month as a doctor?

They must remember that they have to pay back the RM150,000 PTPTN loan at RM2,000 per month for about 20 years, too.

A good alternative proposal

I would like to suggest that students consider other courses such as accountancy, finance, engineering, marketing, etc. The tuition fee for a one-year foundation course is RM8,500 and for a three-year degree course about RM38,000 in Utar, whereas the fees for all government universities are less than RM20,000 for a degree course.

All students whose parents are earning less than RM4,000 per month can apply for my scholarships worth RM15,500 to cover the one-year foundation course fee and the cost of living. After the completion of the foundation course, all students are entitled to receive the PTPTN government loan to complete their degree courses.

Since I made the offer to consider helping students who find the PTPTN loan insufficient, my wife and I have found that most of the applicants are not realistic. They are poor and with poor results, yet they want to study medicine.

With a PTPTN loan, their parents need only subsidise a small amount to complete their degree courses - with the exception of medical degrees. If the parents are really poor, I am willing to consider helping them.

My offer to help students doing degree courses has opened doors for all students in the country, but they themselves must be realistic first. In any case, we reserve the right to reject any application for financial help.

Note: All scholarship recipients do not need to work for me or pay back the money I spent on them. But they must promise me that they will remember I had helped them when they were poor, and that when they are financially solvent they must help other poor students.

Since I started offering scholarships around 10 years ago, I have given out about 300 scholarships and a large number of the recipients have already graduated. Indeed, I believe many graduates will continue to help poor students after I have passed on as well.

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KOON YEW YIN, a retired chartered engineer, is a philanthropist. -Mkini