Help new dental graduates to be gainfully employed

I REFER to the letter “Other ways to prevent long wait for internship” ( The Star, Aug 1) by University Student. We wish to point out that the writer did not consider some vital facts before he decided to disagree with the suggestion to abolish the compulsory government service for dental surgeons.

Firstly, the one-year compulsory government service currently imposed by the government is not a housemanship. Dental school graduates are fully qualified dental surgeons after completing five years of intensive study.

This is the practice worldwide, including in Singapore and Britain where the dental surgeon does not need to undergo any further training such as “internship or housemanship” to get himself/ herself qualified.

Some 30 years ago, one was a qualified dental surgeon after completing the fouryear dental studies at Universiti Malaya. The National University of Singapore is still maintaining the four-year course for dental students. In addition, many dental school graduates from reputable universities are straight A’s students in SPM and Cambridge A-level.

Secondly, the one-year compulsory government service was put in place due to insufficient dental surgeons in the past.

In fact, dental surgeons who graduated from Universiti Malaya some 30 years ago did not need to serve the Government at all.

Thirdly, any additional year of training imposed is “redundant” and a waste of valuable resources.

Finally, I would appreciate if the Health Ministry and Malaysian Dental Council can come up with an immediate solution, particularly the issuance of temporary practising certificates to unemployed qualified dental surgeons so that they can gainfully employed.