Medical grads told to sit for 6 core SPM subjects, pass BM

Public Service Commission will not accept medical graduates' O-Level BM or Bahasa Kebangsaan A (BKA) qualifications for housemanship placements.

PETALING JAYA: Some 300 medical graduates from private institutions and waiting for housemanship placements have been told that they have to “go back to school”.

According to the directive they received, the medical graduates must possess Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia-level Bahasa Malaysia to be accepted into permanent government posts.

According to the affected graduates, previously O-Level BM or Bahasa Kebangsaan A (BKA) qualification was accepted for entry into public service, but from Jan 1 this year, those with such qualifications were rejected, with no exemptions given.

The graduates were told to obtain the SPM-level Bahasa Melayu certificate if they wanted permanent government posts.

One of those affected, who declined to be named, said he had applied to the Public Service Commission (PSC) for housemanship in September last year after obtaining clearance from the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).

“In December, a PSC officer told me that I did not get through the screening process as I did not possess an SPM-level Bahasa Melayu or its equivalent,” he said.

The officer told him that from January 2017, the BKA paper he had taken for his foundation studies was not accepted as an alternative to SPM BM for public service.

However, at the Selangor Education Department, he was told that he could not get a certificate for SPM-level BM unless he took six core subjects and passed BM and History. The other subjects he had to take were Mathematics, English, Science and Moral studies.

The graduate said it was frustrating and it felt like he was going back to secondary school.

Another who graduated in July last year said MMC and PSC had considered her qualifications complete in August when she applied.

“However, in December, a friend told me that we would not be able to get an interview with PSC because we did not have SPM BM,” said the graduate, who declined to be named.

A check with the PSC confirmed this, she said. The PSC also told her they only became aware of the change in requirements when they received a circular (JPA 1/2016) from the Public Service Department.

According to an email she received from the health ministry, the rule for having SPM BM to enter public service as housemen was relaxed in 2003 and O-Level BM was accepted, but the exemption was removed from 2017.

“If there are too many graduates and they want to restrict the numbers, they should plan ahead. We were not given notice,” she said.

When contacted, the PSC said it was only observing the requirement set by the PSD which, in turn, said it was only implementing the decision made by the health ministry.

The PSC said to ease the situation, it relaxed the requirement for medical graduates so that they did not need SPM-level BM for contract jobs – only for permanent posts.

According to an email from the PSD, from Oct 1 last year, the appointment of UD41-grade housemen had been carried out on a contract basis.

The department said this was to allow medical graduates who did not have an SPM-level BM pass to serve in order to get full registration certificates as medical officers.

The PSD said if the candidates wanted to apply for permanent posts, then SPM-level BM was required. -FMT