Graduates of 5 countries' medical institutions comprise a majority of housemanship dropouts
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MEDICAL graduates from universities in Russia, Indonesia, India, Egypt and Czech Republic comprise a bulk of Malaysia’s 60% housemanship dropout rate, said public policy think tank Penang Institute, based on 2014 data it obtained.
Senior analyst Dr Lim Chee Han said the majority of the dropouts were from institutions that were part of the 339 recognised by the Malaysian Medical Council.
Among them are I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (formerly I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy) and Russian National Research Medical University (formerly Russian State Medical University) in Russia; Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung and Universitas Sumatera Utara in Medan, Indonesia; Management & Science University-International Medical School’s Bangalore campus in India; University of Alexandria and University of Mansoura in Egypt; and, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Lim said there were also graduates who had to extend their housemanship stints due to incompetency and disciplinary problems.
“Language is part of it, but it’s not the main issue. The medical terms used may differ depending on where they went to study,” he said after a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said graduates from Ukraine’s Crimea State Medical University had contributed to a high number of dropouts prior to 2011.
In subsequent years, the number decreased, perhaps due to the university being de-listed in 2013.
Lim said the Health Ministry must look into the issues faced by some overseas medical institutions to understand matters related to teaching quality and skills training if it was serious about tackling the problems of housemanship dropouts and stint extensions.
“The situation is made more critical when we consider that many of the students at these institutions are on government scholarships, using taxpayers’ funds.”
Lim added: “More graduates are getting into the housemanship programme, but the number of those who finish the programme is in the red. The situation might get worst if the ministry fails to address the problem.” – July 21, 2017.