Doctors form bulk of PSD scholars renaging on deals

Star: PUTRAJAYA: Most of the Public Service Department (PSD) scholars who failed to return home after graduating were those who pursued medical studies in Britain.
PSD director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Adam said, so far, 44 scholars who had graduated in the late 1990s had failed to return home.
“It’s a breach of contract, when they decide not to return and so, their guarantors would have to pay us back,” he added.
Ismail also said that this year, to ensure that those aspiring to pursue medical studies with a scholarship from PSD were fully qualified, short-listed candidates would be taken to hospitals by Health Ministry staff.
“This is to give them a taste of what it's really like in the emergency wards, and for us to see their reaction to blood and injuries.
“They will also have to sit for an aptitude and psychological tests,” he told reporters after visiting the PSD counter in Parcel C here yesterday.
The Government, said Ismail, could not afford to waste its precious resources by investing in an applicant with good results but was unsuitable for medicine, particularly when such a course in Britain could cost as much as RM1mil.
Since Monday, the department has been flooded with some 11,000 applications for scholarships, the most popular of which are for medical courses in Britain and other countries.
Ismail reminded applicants that competition remained stiff for the 1,290 places for studies abroad.
He added that applicants stood a better chance of being offered a scholarship if they picked courses such as economics, actuarial science, dentistry, pharmacy and pure science.
“Maybe it’s a public perception that medicine is a prestigious profession, but there are other just as important occupations,” he pointed out, adding that students would know the results of their applications by May.
Scholarships would be awarded, Ismail said, primarily on academic achievement, which would form two-thirds of an applicant's percentage point, while the rest would be made up of extra-curricular activities, the interview and family background.
“Students whose parents have been blacklisted by the PSD for not paying up their (PSD) loans previously will be disqualified. So far, 10,000 former PSD scholars, graduating between 1987 and 2000, have yet to pay back their loans amounting to RM284mil. But 20,000 others have settled their debts,” he said.
He added that the department had also instructed the Attorney-General to issue summonses to 1,600 PSD loan defaulters.
Until yesterday, Ismail said, the department had managed to collect some RM311mil.