Medical colleges under scrutiny

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The National Accreditation Board and the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) will investigate claims that two private medical colleges violated regulations pertaining to the training of students in the clinical phase of their studies.
They will look into Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's claims that the ratio of lecturers to students did not meet the MMC's requirement.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said he had not received a report on the matter from the Health Ministry.
“Before any private medical university or college is set up, it has to meet the requirements set by the MMC,” he told reporters after delivering his New Year message to ministry officials.
Last week, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the ministry found the lecturer-student ratio to be 1:20 respectively when ideally it should not be higher than 1:8.
Health director-general Tan Sri Ismail Merican, who was also at the event yesterday, said there were no full-time lecturers at the colleges.
While Universiti Malaya is only capable of churning out about 200 students each year, these private colleges, which have been operating less than 10 years, have produced 300 students, he said.