Materia Medica Malaysiana

Varsities to face shortage of lecturers

KUALA LUMPUR: Local universities will face a shortage of medical lecturers when the terms of service of some 40 doctors seconded from the Health Ministry expires over the next few months.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Salleh said seven government doctors lecturing at the Universiti Sains Malaysia would be the first batch to leave at the end of the month and return to their duties.

“We are still negotiating with Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek to extend the secondment period but Dr Chua said his ministry is also facing shortages.

“If an extension is not possible, then, we will have to fall back on Plan B, which is to employ foreign lecturers,” he said at a buka puasa function with public universities' student council representative last night.

Dr Shafie said the leaving of these Government doctors would have a great impact on the quality of medical courses in eight local universities.

At the dinner, Dr Shafie announced that his Ministry planned to set up a foundation named YES (Yayasan Ehwal Siswa) to promote inter-universities activities in an effort to curb racial polarisation, promote integration and unity among undergraduates.

He said YES also aimed to organise extra curriculum activities to equip university students with “soft skills”, such as leadership training and character building.

“It is not enough to learn solely from the books, we hope to strengthen the confidence and character of our graduates through the YES programme.”