Materia Medica Malaysiana

1,200 can qualify as doctors every year

KUALA LUMPUR: The country can produce about 1,200 doctors a year, compared to 950 previously, following the increase in the number of local colleges and universities offering medical courses.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the figure includes foreign-trained doctors, too.

The number is small compared with the country’s needs but the Government could not raise the number of medical graduates without taking quality into account, he said.

Dr Abdul Latiff said Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia produced about 300 medical graduates in 1980.

“Now we have other universities, including private institutions of higher learning (offering medical courses),” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia (KUIM).

The MoU is for the use of several hospitals under the ministry for the college’s clinical programme for medical students.

Under the MoU, the Ampang, Temerloh, Tampin and Jelebu hospitals and 12 health centres in Negri Sembilan will be used as training centres for KUIM medical students for 15 years. – Bernama