Medical students who fail test get another shot

NST: PUTRAJAYA: Students from unrecognised medical colleges abroad who failed a local examination to qualify for housemenship here before Dec 31 last year have been given a reprieve.
The cabinet has allowed them to transfer credit hours from their universities to a local public or private university to complete their medical course.
"If they pass, they can do their housemanship at public hospitals," Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said before chairing the ministry's post-cabinet meeting.
The decision comes in the wake of an appeal from Liow to the cabinet to allow the students to continue their studies here.
He said the number of years they would have to study here depended on the number of credit hours transferred to the university.
It is learnt that at least 200 students had failed three attempts at the local examination.
Normally, when medical students from unrecognised medical colleges return to Malaysia, they are attached to University of Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia or Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for six months before sitting an examination under the Medical (Setting of Examination for Provisional Registration) Regulations 1993.
Medical students who want to take up the offer should apply to the Malaysian Medical Council on or before Dec 31 with proof of acceptance to a local university.
The applicant must obtain written approval from the MMC before pursuing the course. The MMC has the right to reject incomplete applications.
Liow said the course pursued should not be less than a year for non-clinical studies and two years for clinical studies.
The Asian Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, which received recognition from the MMC on Aug 17 last year, has offered to accept these students.
On another issue, Liow said the cabinet had approved RM12.9 billion to subsidise treatment and drugs at government hospitals.
"The government will subside 98 per cent of medical expenses with patients paying only two per cent, that is, RM1 as outpatient and RM5 as inpatient patients," he added.
He said the government spent RM52.7 billion in subsidies from 2003 to last year to provide medical treatment to Malaysians.