The dilemma of dental housemanship

WHEN I was 13, my father took a job assignment in India and decided to relocate with the family. I was in Form 1 then.

I completed the IGCSE (equivalent of O levels) examination there and returned home to complete my A levels. For reasons unknown to me, the college in Malaysia (a reputable one) did not insist that as a Malaysian, I needed to sit for a Bahasa Melayu (BM) paper.

Question: Is it mandatory for Malaysians who have been in international schools (in or outside Malaysia) to sit for a BM paper when they do the A Level examinations in Malaysia? There seems to be confusion about this requirement.

I completed my A levels and then moved back to India for my degree in dentistry, which I completed in October 2017. During my dentistry course, I was aware of the mandatory requirement for dental housemanship in government hospitals before I could be registered with the Malaysian Dental Council (MDC).

I was also aware of some form of BM prerequisite for government service. I called the MDC and Health Ministry (MOH) to clarify and the response was consistent – I would NOT need any BM requirement for housemanship but would need it before I could be confirmed in government service.

So, the approach I took was I would sign up for the BM paper while I was doing my housemanship and would get confirmed in government service upon clearing the paper.

Everything was well until I returned to Malaysia upon graduation in October 2017. I recently registered with the MDC and am now being told that SPM BM credit is a mandatory prerequisite, even for housemanship.

Apparently, this is a new ruling in 2017 – that anyone who graduates after Dec 31, 2106 will need a credit in SPM BM before housemanship.

There were many articles and announcements in the papers on this matter earlier in the year and I was told this is the final decision of the Cabinet.

I accepted this as fate and started making queries to the Education Ministry about sitting for the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper in July 2018. I am now told that the July paper is offered ONLY for those who are resitting the paper and NOT for fresh sittings.

This means the earliest I can sit this paper is in November 2018 and the results will be announced in March 2019. This is a major setback to me – I graduated as a dentist in October 2017, but the earliest I will be able to register with MDC is in March/April 2019 (upon obtaining the results of the BM examination), and then I will have to wait for my dental housemanship posting which will take three to six months. Effectively there is a two-year wait before I can practise as a dentist, a professional discipline I am trained in!

I would like clarification from the authorities on the following:

What happens to Malaysian medicine and dental aspirants who have moved overseas and completed most of their education there?

I have looked at the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper and unless one has good exposure to Bahasa Melayu (which I luckily had until Form 1), there is no way anyone can get a credit in the paper unless they spend significant time attending private tutorship. It is mandatory that we serve our housemanship yet we are caught in a situation where we are not able to.

Would it not be fair to allow all to do the housemanship and then decide if we want to continue in government service?

The housemanship is a mandatory requirement to practise as a dentist – not just in the Government. I am not sure what to do. I am a dentist but I cannot fulfil a mandatory requirement in my own country, therefore I cannot practise.

I cannot apply for post-graduate training locally or abroad because most bodies require you to be registered with a dental council of sorts. I can work in a dental clinic but will not be able to work on patients – I can only observe the registered dentist treating patients. This is indeed very frustrating for me.

I hope the authorities will respond to the dilemma I am facing. I know I am not alone in this predicament.

It is very depressing that we have toiled so hard for the last five years to obtain this degree and upon returning home, are not allowed to practise.