Rep: Exempt practising medical doctors from BM requirement
MIRI: Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon yesterday called for the exemption of an SPM-Bahasa Malaysia (BM) pass for all practising medical officers as stipulated by the Ministry of Health.
The ministry on Thursday decided that all medical graduates will need to pass SPM Bahasa Malaysia before they could be employed as medical officers.
The decision, which affects only Malaysians, came after the Ministry of Health sought in February to exempt medical officers from the requirement, sparking an outcry over the status of the national language, and whether such doctors would be capable of treating the Malaymajority population.
Dr Ting, at a press conference here yesterday however called on the ministry to provide regular English and Chinese lessons, including indigenous languages such as Iban, for all medical and nursing staff in the state.
He urged the government to implement the policy properly and not to move the goal posts frequently to suit the political agenda. He said it was already sufficient for medical and nursing staff to pass either English or Bahasa Malaysia as an alternative.
Health Minister S Subramaniam said the decision to allow only those with a pass in BM at SPM level (equivalent to O level) to be accepted into the housemanship programmes was unanimously made after a weekly Cabinet meeting.
“Before this, we decided to take medical graduates and grant them the chance to undergo training as graduate medical officers, with the condition that they must pass the BM paper while they are doing their housemanship.
“Today, we have decided that they must first pass the BM paper before being appointed as graduate medical officers,” S Subramaniam said.