20% of Malaysian medical students in foreign universities don't meet minimum requirements

Students who lack qualification but still secured places overseas are most likely to struggle and prolong their housemanship, says study.

About 20 per cent of Malaysian students who entered foreign universities to do medicine did not even have the minimum academic qualifications to enter the programmes, disclosed by Dr H. Krishna Kumar, president of the Malaysian Medical Association.

His statements were based on a  2009-2011 study commissioned by the Health Ministry which showed that 19% of medical students took longer because they failed to submit their paper work to be promoted to medical officers. Medical students from overseas universities showed lack of basic knowledge, poor level of basic skills competency, and lack of discipline.

Students with less than 3 principal Cs in STPM or A-level can still secure places by just obtaining the 'no objection letter' from the Education Ministry.

The minimum qualifications to do medicine and dentistry is three Principal Cs in the STPM examination or equivalent qualifications recognised by the Malaysian government, or at least a CPGA of 3.0 while SPM students must have at least 5As.

Furthermore, the study revealed that those who lack the basic entry requirements were up to five times more likely to have their housemanship extended.

Government hospitals can take a maximum of 5,000 new doctors per year, provided they finish their housemanship within two years. However some doctors take longer to finish their housemanship.

You may want to read...

5 reasons why becoming a doctor is losing its lustre

• Want to become a doctor? Consider working in Sarawak.
• Entry requirements for medical school may be tightened
• 8 things to know when planning to study medicine in Russia
• Licensing exam for doctors
• Malaysian Health Ministry to review entry qualifications into medical schools
• No jobs for medical graduates next year, says Malaysian Medical Association?