PETALING JAYA: There has been an increasing trend of medical graduates leaving for Singapore for housemanship, leading to losses of millions of ringgit in educational investment annually, say experts.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Faculty of Medicine dean Prof Datin Dr Marina Mat Baki said from only two graduates who moved to the republic in 2020, the number grew to 15 more graduates in 2021, 25 in 2022 and 30 in 2023.
“This is a significant loss for Malaysia as the tuition fees for medical courses are heavily subsidised by the government,” she said.
She urged the government to expedite allocation of hospital postings for graduates after completing their final examinations to retain them in the country.
“As long as they pass their final examinations, they should be allowed to apply for and get their placement as soon as possible,” she said.
According to the Singapore Medical Council, only medical students who graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya are accepted to undergo training in the republic.
Dr Marina noted that it is harder for graduates who did their housemanship in Singapore to return and practise in Malaysia as they need to prove that they have fulfilled the Malaysian Medical Council’s (MMC) requirements.
“If the training was not completed as per MMC’s requirements, they will need to fulfil the postings that haven’t been done in Malaysia before they can be certified and continue as a medical officer here,” she said.
She added that it is easier to come back as a specialist, but the certification must be from qualified bodies approved by MMC.
This would typically take up to 10 years.
She also highlighted the possibility of less opportunities for Malaysian graduates to pursue specialist programmes in Singapore.
Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, a health economics and public health specialist at UKM, said the government would have spent an estimated RM500,000 to RM1mil per student for a five-year course.
She said the cost included the study placement comprising capital and assets in training hospitals.
“The government is also paying all lecturers to teach our medical students. This figure is only from one university,” she said, referring to UKM.
“The return on all the investments is lost because once the doctors work abroad, there is no benefit received by the local population.”
Apart from the financial loss, she said, Malaysia is also left with fewer doctors, which could disrupt the ratio of provider-to-population and affect access to medical care.
Hartal Doktor Kontrak spokesperson Dr Muhammad Yassin said the talent outflow would place further strain on Malaysian healthcare workers.
“This will lead to more burnout and overwork, which may in turn lead to more exodus out of the Health Ministry, either to the private sector or overseas.
“The overall effect will be a healthcare system with suboptimal care for the patients as more and more are depending on the public healthcare system due to the increase in insurance price and medical inflation,” he said when contacted.
He said this matter should be addressed by improving the working environment and providing better remuneration for medical officers and specialist doctors.
“Start with increasing on-call allowances. There is also a need to find ways to reduce the workload of healthcare workers in general, not just doctors but also support staff,” he added.
He proposed a private-public partnership or a national insurance scheme that helps offload patients in the government facilities to the private sector without compromising care.
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- Health Ministry finalising proposal to revert to one-year housemanship
- MOH aims to place 3,000 housemen this year, says Dr Dzul
- Provisional registration of medical grads down 38% since 2017, says MMC
