Engage private medical sector in training of specialists, MoH asked

MIRI: The Ministry of Health (MoH) should engage experts in the private medical sector in training specialists to meet the needs in the country, said a veteran gynaecologist at a private hospital here.

Dr Roland Dom Mattu, chief of medical services, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist of Columbia Asia Hospital Miri, said it was about time the ministry recognised the quality training in private hospitals as a way to continue to develop the experts in the country. Pointing to quality training as imperative, he said junior doctors have also benefitted from his practice and experience with colleagues.

“I’ve been doing minimally (training) and surgery since day one in 1995, and I have been the first gynaecologist to do so, having just returned from the UK. I am thrilled to be able to share my experience with my colleagues,” he said.

However, he said this effort is unlikely to be recognised under the current specialist training in subspecialty requirement. He made these remarks in response to Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad’s stand to resolve problems related to the Parallel Pathway Training or the specialists training programme.

On Jan 27, the minister posted on X that he was placing it in his 100-day key performance index, even if it risked failing.

Dr Dzulkefly said it was not in the MoH’s or the nation’s interest to abolish the Parallel Pathway programme and to meet the nation’s urgent needs for specialists, the programme called for harmony of training programmes that meet the requirements of local laws, regulations and standards.

The Health Ministry has said that the Parallel Pathway “has been designed to allow training of internal medicine trainees – wherever they may be – so that services to patients are not jeopardised”. It also said the Parallel Pathway is “part of the overall post-graduate training programme and forms part of the process of finally becoming a subspecialist in Malaysia”.

An earlier post by Hospital Putrajaya consultant nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah said there were quarters trying to ‘kill off’ the Parallel Pathway programme which enables doctors to continue their specialist training. Malaysia is currently facing a shortage of specialists and the federal government has increased training slots for the Master of Medicine programme to 1,500 doctors, offering 23 specialist areas in eight public universities in 2023.