3 medical graduates chide lecturers of UKM Hospital

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SEEKING SOLUTION: Dr Sim (third right, seated) with Teng (third left, seated), Chen (second right, seated) and others pose during the news conference. Standing from right are Shanghai Jiaotong University graduates Kong, Hii and Wong.

KUCHING: Three medical graduates of Shanghai Jiaotong University yesterday blasted several lecturers of UKM Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, for treating them shabbily, and which led to their failure in the Medical Qualifying Examination (MQE).

Passing the MQE would have enabled them to practise in Malaysia.

John Hii, who graduated in 2008, Steven Wong (2010), and Kong Ing Hui (2010), claimed there were no standard procedures in the hospital.

The hospital too treated them as “final-year medical students” despite the fact that they had medical degrees from China.

“We were not given the time to learn enough to sit for the exam. Whenever we come across any problems, our lecturers do not guide us. Instead of telling us how to solve the problem, they merely said we have done it wrong,” Kong told a news conference at SUPP headquarters here yesterday.

He went on to charge that the MQE was not conducted in a fair manner. The trio sat for the exam last year, but all failed.

They blamed some lecturers of the hospital for being unwilling to teach them, and that different lecturers had different teaching methodologies which were confusing.

“There are not enough lecturers for students. In some wards, medical students are left on their own. Lecturers do not teach at all,” claimed the trio in a written memo to SUPP secretary-general Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, who was also present.

Hence, they requested the authorities concerned to exempt them from sitting for MQE so that they could be attached to a hospital in Sarawak or Malaysia.

According to Kong, Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of the 146 universities in China recently accredited by the government.

Kong, Wong and Hii said they spent five years in the university to earn the medical degree. They also claimed some 50 medical graduates in UKM Hospital shared their fate.

Dr Sim, who is a cardiologist, admitted that accreditation of medical credentials from universities abroad had been a “long standing issue for years.”

While Malaysia used to face acute shortage of doctors, he said the number of housemen had gone up in the last couple of years.

“In 1980s, we were so short of doctors, but now we get over 200 housemen in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) alone every year. It used to be only 60 housemen annually.

“This is only SGH, and if we were to include other hospitals in Sarawak, I think easily we have 300 to 400 housemen a year. What we see is a revolution here.”

Despite these facts, he said he would help the three graduates look into their problems. He pledged to meet the Minister and director-general of the Health Ministry to iron out the issue.

Dr Sim also pointed out that the government had to amend the Medical Act 1971 in order to address the issue of accreditation of foreign medical credentials once and for all.

“The Act has to be amended and the authorities concerned are drafting the amendment. It then has to be tabled in Parliament to seek endorsement. Only when the Medical Act 1971 is amended could the issue be solved for good.

“When the amendment is not done, it is unfair to good medical students who graduated overseas and are unable to practise in Malaysia.”

He also called on medical graduates who faced similar issues to send in the necessary documents by April 15.

He will have to gather all the papers before meeting the Health Minister and director-general.

Among those present were SUPP treasurer Datuk David Teng and deputy secretary-general Matthew Chen.