Exposed to excellence
THE moment students enrol in Penang Medical College (PMC), they are in for an exciting experience which involves starting their pre-clinical training in a foreign land far away from home.
Students not only get to learn the basic building blocks towards obtaining their medical degree but they also get to experience a different lifestyle in a land of different cultures, weather and practices.
PMC is owned and managed by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and University College Dublin (UCD), which are two of the oldest and most respected medical schools in Ireland.
Students will get to choose to do their pre-clinical studies either at RCSI or UCD in Dublin, Ireland, for the first two-and-a-half years. RCSI has over 200 years of experience as a medical education and training college, back from when it was founded in 1784 to train surgeons.
UCD has 150 years of tradition and is one of the finest universities in Ireland. For pre-clinical studies, students will undertake a programme where they will obtain knowledge of the principles in science and medicine.
PMC’s director of surgical training N. Premnath said students are taught to place the patient’s interest above all else.
Though both programmes in UCD and RCSI are structured differently, students will return to Penang for their final clinical training armed with the same basic knowledge and skills.
On March 11, another batch of students from the Dublin class of 2015 will be making their way back from Dublin to undergo their twoand-a-half years of clinical training at PMC in Penang.
During the clinical training, students will get a hands-on approach at government hospitals, namely, Penang Hospital, Seberang Jaya Hospital, Bukit Mertajam Hospital and Taiping Hospital.
“The students are divided into small groups of four to five when they are being trained at the hospitals,” said Premnath.
They also get to interact with patients while remaining under the close supervision of experienced specialists and doctors.
In the two-and-half-years of clinical training, the students will gain valuable experience on how to have an insight into each patient’s medical history, case management, diagnosis and treatment.
The PMC campus, located on two sites, is conveniently located in George Town and is a five-minute walk to the Penang Hospital, which is the main clinical training hospital.
The campus is fully equipped with top-of-the-line facilities that include a 200-seat lecture theatre, seminar rooms, examination hall, multimedia room with full Internet access, video conferencing facilities, research laboratory, student study areas, library, clinical skills laboratory, canteen, recreation rooms, student centre, cafeteria and a surau.
All students will graduate with the MB BCh BAO degree of the National University of Ireland (NUI) upon successful completion of the programme.
The students will also be conferred and recognised as Licentiates of the RCSI upon graduation.
The MB BCh BAO degrees are recognised by the Irish Medical Council, Malaysian Medical Council, Sri Lankan Medical Council and other regulatory bodies throughout the world.
Graduates with this degree may continue with their medical studies by pursuing postgraduate training anywhere in the world.
To apply for enrolment into PMC, students need to have above-aver- age results in Pre-U programmes such as the A-Level, Australian Matriculation, International Baccalaureate, STPM, Matriculation or their equivalent.
Find out more about what PMC has to offer and the requirements to apply for a place at this college at the upcoming Jom Masuk U Education Fair in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
PMC will have a booth at the fair in Penang which will be held this weekend on March 9 and 10.
For further information, log on to www.pmc.edu.my.