Letters
by Unrecognised doctors
The Star, published an article, “Flunked doctors have a chance”, dated April 10, 2008. We were very saddened to know, that the Health Minister and the Director General of Health, have failed to understand the plight of our situation. This issue should not be treated as a platform for showing ones power or a battle of egos, or a money making scam.
Many of us have graduated from the year 1992. We all have families to support, and not having a steady income, to come up with the finances yet again for this purpose is not only near impossible but even unreasonable. Even if we are helped by the government giving us loans, for those of us who have passed and received our medical degrees over 15 years ago, to go for a compulsory course of 3 years, then sit for the final exam, only to become a houseman seems unfair and impractical. After this process, one has to slave for 2 years as a houseman, and 3 years as a medical officer, and then is eligible for permanent registration. Many of us will be near retirement age, and this proposal seems unrealistic. We seem to be getting the shorter end of the stick, and come to you for support.
We have tried in our capacity to do a post mortem of the situation, and have come up with facts and figures for your kind perusal. Please do go through it, for you to get a finer picture of our situation.
There has always been a critical shortage of doctors in Malaysia, and the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Medical Council have opted in the past and are still recruiting foreign doctors to fill in the vacancies, many of whom have their undergraduate qualifications from unrecognized universities. We are Malaysians, have a medical degree, and yet find ourselves unemployed.
Till date there are 450 qualified medical doctors in Malaysia, from unrecognized universities. Many of the doctors, disheartened by the partiality being practiced in the medical sector, have left their home country, to a foreign land only to earn a livelihood. We are qualified doctors, and yet some of us work in pharmaceutical warehouses, car sales, insurance policies, and some of us resort to selling different products to make a living. Some of us are forced to sit at home; unable to get employment, as we know no other skills apart from the skills we have been trained and qualified for. We are qualified professionals, and yet we are ‘unrecognised’.
We are in a no win situation and come to you for justice. ‘NO EMPLOYMENT’ IS ABSOLUTELY NOT AN OPTION FOR US. WE TOO HAVE HOMES TO RUN AND CHILDREN TO FEED.