The government plans to add more vacancies for doctors to accommodate medical graduates to undergo housemanship at public hospitals. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 5, 2016.The Ministry of Health (MOH) is planning to add more vacancies for medical officers and specialist doctors to accommodate medical graduates to undergo housemanship at government hospitals.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said currently, there were many medical graduates who could not secure placement for housemanship due to insufficient vacancies.
He said the creation of more posts at government hospitals was in line with the 11th Malaysia Plan to have a 1:400 doctor to population ratio by 2020, with the healthcare system improved through various strategies.
"We are currently discussing with the Public Service Department (JPA) to add more vacancies in government hospitals, and the result of the meeting will be made public once everything is finalised," he told reporters today.
He said currently, the doctor to population ratio in Malaysia stood at 1:600 and the government needed to create more positions for doctors to achieve the targetted ratio of 1:400.
Hilmi said that there were about 4,000 to 5,000 medical graduates applying for housemanship every year, and there was insufficient place for them due to the two-year housemanship.
"The problem is that not every medical graduate can pass the housemanship in two years as some may need to extend if they fail certain criteria. So, annually, there are 10,000 medical graduates doing housemanship at government hospitals." – Bernama, March 5, 2016.
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