Hope for overseas docs to return
IT was truly heartening to read our beloved prime minister’s comments about welcoming returning professionals, especially doctors, during a high tea reception with Malaysians living in Singapore earlier this week.
Many of these doctors do not come back because the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) refuses to recognise their basic medical degree. Thus, they have decided to settle in other countries where they are given the opportunity to practise.
In Malaysia, due to the non-recognition of their medical degree, many are left on the sidelines. The MMC, which comprises more than 20 appointed and only 10 elected members, claims to speak for all doctors in Malaysia and to uphold professional standards.
The reason many world famous universities are left out of the recognition list is because the MMC claims it does not have sufficient funds to do the recognition process. MMC also refuses to accept other stringent qualifying exams such as the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the Canadian Medical Exams. Thus, many Malaysian doctors who passed these exams decided to work overseas. MMC has not stated any reason for their stand apart from saying that it only recognises university exams and not council exams. These are archaic rulings that should be dispensed with.
Having these doctors, many of whom are now specialists, sit for a qualifying test when they return to Malaysia is indeed not feasible. Many have attempted the test and found it biased against them.
The president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), Dr Mohamed Namazie Ibrahim, was quoted recently saying that house officers may have their training extended if their performance is unsatisfactory and those who fail to complete the training in three years will be asked to leave, “The reality about Medicine” (StarEducate, Sunday Star, Oct 28).
If there is such stringent training available, why are we wasting time making doctors from non-recognised universities sit for an exam? Everyone in this new Malaysia should be treated equally and allowed to serve as house officers and prove themselves.
In the past, doctors who had their universities retrospectively recognised were allowed to practise as house officers. They proved themselves during their housemanship and as medical officers and were registered. There were some who even failed the qualifying test on all three attempts.
We also allow foreign doctors from non-recognised universities to come here and do their specialist course at our local medical universities. What is denied to our own Malaysians from non-recognised universities is allowed for their classmates who are foreigners! We even employ specialists who are foreigners to work here while their own university mates who are Malaysians can’t even start treating patients in a supervised environment because their basic degree is not recognised.
Doctors from non-recognised universities are hard-working people who couldn’t afford the high capitation fees but still went on their own to pursue their dreams of achieving their medical degree. These are the doctors Malaysia should welcome with open arms.
We do not have a problem of surplus doctors. We still have not met the ideal doctor-patient ratio set by WHO. We have a problem of there not being enough hospitals to train doctors.
We now have to move forward and, in this new Malaysia, change the situation by removing Article 12 of the Medical Act regarding unrecognised doctors. This would allow all Malaysians to be trained as housemen. No doctor should be left behind.
The mistakes of the past must be corrected by this new administration. Doctors who are already specialists overseas should also be welcomed back as specialists. Only then can the vision of our prime minister become a reality.
DISILLUSIONED MALAYSIAN DOCTOR Melaka