Materia Medica Malaysiana

Training more specialists

A new batch of 227 trained doctors have just joined Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) post-graduate masters degree programme and will graduate in four years’ time.
UKM medical faculty dean Prof Dr Lokman Saim said: “The masters degrees enable doctors to specialise in fields according to their interests. There is a choice of 15 specialist degrees here including anaesthesiology, internal medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynaecology.”
UKM’s medical faculty (for undergraduate studies) was established in May 1972. Ever since it started its first postgraduate training programme in orthopaedic surgery and general surgery in 1981, it has produced more than 1,500 specialists. On average, the university produces about 190 specialists annually.
The four-year structured masters programme emphasises clinical and surgical expertise.
“This is our biggest batch so far. We have doctors from various government agencies such as the Ministries of Health and Defence and Kuala Lumpur City Hall,” said Prof Lokman, adding that there were 200 doctors in the previous year’s batch.
There are also eight foreign doctors on the programme. Prof Lokman explained that the doctors were required to work regular hours during their post-graduate training.
“They run clinics, do operations and go on-call. At the same time, they attend intensive courses run by the departments they want to specialise in.
“But they don’t attend lectures or tutorials. Instead, each doctor is assigned to a supervisor who is a consultant specialist. It is an apprenticeship” he said.
Prof Lokman added that not all 227 doctors were based at the UKM Hospital as the university recognises other hospitals as training centres. However, the doctors do go back to UKM for a certain time period.
“The doctors are required to do research as well as fill in a log-book on the work they have done such as the operations they have carried out,” he said.
Examinations are also held – the doctors have three chances to pass.
“Although we accept any doctor who is eligible for the programme in terms of age and qualifications, not all will qualify as specialists,” he said.