Parallel pathway: UiTM opens cardiothoracic training for non-bumi

 

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) said it is willing to open its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate training programme to non-bumiputera trainees, as a solution to the issue of unrecognised overseas parallel pathways for training in that specialism.

UiTM Medical Faculty professor Dr Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar said this is because the UiTM-National Heart Institute (IJN) cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway training programme is the only one of its specialism offered locally, the health website Codeblue reported.

“We sat down and cracked our heads. We spoke to the (UiTM) vice-chancellor and the chairperson of the UiTM board, and they discussed.

“They agreed to open the doors temporarily, using whatever clause, through private (scheme) or whatever, to accept (and) help the trainees, because of the need in the country,” he told the health news website.

Raja Amin said the temporary solution was devised after the faculty received a request from the Health Ministry and Higher Education Ministry to find a solution to the conundrum.

This comes after four graduates who earned a Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons Edinburgh (FRSC Ed) qualification for cardiothoracic surgery were told they could not register as specialists and practise the specialism here because the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) does not recognise the qualification.

MMC said while it has a list of recognised parallel pathway specialist training programmes, the FRSC Ed qualification is not on it.

The graduates, who are employed in the Health Ministry and IJN, have since sought leave for a judicial review on the matter.

Malaysia is facing a shortage of medical specialists including cardiothoracic surgeons.

Three Health Ministry centres in Kota Bharu, Kuantan and Kota Kinabalu have only one cardiothoracic surgeon respectively.

Raja Amin said UiTM is willing to take in all 30 cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway trainees and bring them into the national programme, so their qualifications will be recognised.

This is a temporary measure until other institutions can offer training in this specialism to non-bumiputera trainees, he said.

“We map them back. If you are (in the) first year (of specialist training elsewhere), you come to the first year here. If you’re in the third year, you come to the third year here.

“When Universiti Malaya is ready (to provide parallel pathway training for this specialism), then they (non-bumiputera trainees) can choose to go there,” he said.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad

Amending the Medical Act

Earlier Higher Education Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said the government would find a solution that would not victimise the graduates.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, meanwhile, said the ministry would seek to amend the Medical Act 1971 to facilitate a parallel pathway for medical specialist training.

This prompted backlash from some quarters of the medical and academic fields, including former UiTM vice-chancellor Ibrahim Abu Shah, who said the government must not make concessions for a “haram” (illegal) qualification. - Mkini