- Advertisement -
News

Local medical grad output ‘below health ministry projection’

Institutions of higher learning in the country produced 2,967 medical graduates last year, 958 of them from public universities and 2,009 from private universities.

Bernama
2 minute read
Share
A doctor collects a sample for testing at a Covid-19 screening facility near a mural depicting medical frontliners in Shah Alam, Selangor, on Dec 12, 2020. Photo: AP
A doctor collects a sample for testing at a Covid-19 screening facility near a mural depicting medical frontliners in Shah Alam, Selangor, on Dec 12, 2020. Photo: AP

The output of local medical graduates is below the health ministry’s projected requirements, Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad said today.

She said the target of the health ministry’s Strategic Plan 2016-2020 was a ratio of 1:400 of medical doctors to the population in Malaysia in 2025 with an average additional need per year of 4,000 new doctors.

Institutions of higher learning (IPT) in the country produced 2,967 medical graduates last year, 958 of them from public universities (IPTA) and 2,009 from private universities (IPTS), she said.

“Referring to existing statistics, the output of local medical graduates is below the health ministry’s projected requirements. However, under the Medical Act 1971, all medical graduates including those from abroad must register with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) to undergo compulsory service.

“To ensure a healthy balance between needs and job market demands as well as the country’s aspirations, the higher education ministry will from time to time monitor the intake of bachelor of medicine students which is currently based on the capacity of IPTs and subject to quotas set by the MMC,” she said during question time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Noraini was replying to a question from Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) about the number of medical and law graduates in 2020 and 2021, and whether the number of graduates would be sufficient to meet the demands of the job market.

On law graduates, 1,704 were produced from local IPTs last year comprising 1,098 and 606 graduates from IPTA and IPTS respectively.

“I would also like to share that at this time, the moratorium for law programmes that has been implemented for almost 15 years is still in effect,” Noraini added.