Materia Medica Malaysiana

Look for ways to overcome shortage of medical places, says PM

TOKYO: The Higher Education Ministry must look for long-term solutions to overcome the shortage of places for those wanting to study medicine, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“The ministry must look at how they can hire doctors who are willing to serve as lecturers, including hiring them on a contract basis,” the Prime Minister said, urging the ministry to also look at increasing the number of lecturers and facilities to open up more opportunities for those wanting to study medicine.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh had said on Wednesday that the 128 top scorers who were earlier denied places would be absorbed into public or private medical programmes.

The students had all attained the required cumulative grade point average of 4.0.

Dr Shafie had said that the increased enrolment into medical schools was made possible following a decision by the Malaysian Medical Council to recognise a doctor-to-student ratio of 1:6, compared to the current 1:4.

Abdullah said he was glad that a solution had been found to admit the top scorers.

“I hope the solution that we have found will be accepted by all parties. I hope parents and students will accept whichever institution the students are sent to.

“We cannot consider everyone’s preferences because of various constraints,” he told Malaysian reporters covering his two-day visit here yesterday.

In Kuala Lumpur, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Education Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein said the decision to give places to the 128 students was not due to pressure from any group or political party.

NICK LEONG reports Najib as saying that the decision was based solely on the students’ qualifications and the ability of the universities to absorb them.

“The Cabinet found it difficult to deny places for those with nearly perfect scores (of 4.0),” he told reporters after launching the Menara Com-merce yesterday.

Najib said public universities were able to absorb more students by increasing the number students per lecturer at the initial pre-clinical stage.

He added that the Govern-ment planned to increase intake at the universities by employing more lecturers at the advanced clinical stage.

“Some private universities are able to accept the students. It is a question of financing. The Government is thinking of a way to help them,” he said, adding that the adjustments would not compromise on the quality of the courses.

Asked if the Government planned to build more medical faculties at universities, Najib said such matters could not be rushed.

“Building medical faculties is expensive. Lecturers are also required.

“They (the lecturers) must not only have the necessary qualifications but also the experience before they can teach,” he said.

ELIZABETH LOOI reports Hishamuddin as saying that nobody should exploit the issue to claim political mileage.

“The Cabinet’s decision was for the sake of the top achievers’ future and also for the country,” he said, adding that the top scorers came from different races.

Hishammuddin conceded that the problem would keep occurring, but even so, “we will always give priority to top scorers,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting at his office on the issue of gangsterism in schools.

On a related matter, he said the achievements of bumiputra students in the matriculation programme had not been good enough since the programme started.

He added, however, that the programme would not be opened to non-bumiputras in the near future because it was meant to give bumiputras a chance in science and accountancy.

“The bumiputra achieve-ments are not good enough, based on the reports I received. We should give them more time to excel in these fields,” he added.