Quality vs quantity: Time to change
Monday, May 1st, 2006 | 5:54 pm @ SK
Via The Star:
Prof Dr Lokman Sain, the dean of the medical faculty of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) said he recently visited Ireland and found many Malaysian doctors there stuck as junior housemen and denied promotions as priority was given to European Union doctors. […]"I have worked in Scotland and I can definitely say that Malaysians have more opportunities for training and promotion here; plus our standards here are on par with Britain, if not better.
"The information is misleading as some people will think that it is easier to become specialists in Britain but it is indisputable that we produce more specialists – about 400 specialists a year from UKM, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia, compared to the 50 or so who come back from Britain every year."
No offence to doctors graduated at local universities, however Prof. must have the guts to admit that it’s the quality that matters, not quantity. It’s also undeniable that some of the doctors graduated and continue to work there due to high pay, better benefits, allowances and so on, but let’s be fair, isn’t it natural for human to always seek for greener pasture which they love and enjoy most?
Sometimes, it’s just inappropriate to judge one’s decision and instead of harping and sitting on the problem, we need to sort out the brain drain issue by looking into the root cause, rather than pointing out the negative side of others.
Time to change?
May 1st, 2006 at 6:13 pm
I have heard of foreign doctors who are really shocked to find out the conditions/skills/standards of the doctors locally.
Some of them also faces difficulties on the procedures and conditions that has been slapped on them if they are to return to Malaysia.
I am not saying that it’s a bad thing to hype this promotion thing, but as long as they are black sheeps in the family, I think there’s still much room for improvement, especially where black sheeps outnumbered the white ones…
May 1st, 2006 at 8:45 pm
I have a friend. She whose doing medicine in the UK. She vows that she’ll graduate and never come back. Why? Because on top of spending 1/2 a decade studying to be a doctor and then some more to be a specialist, instead of finally being able to earn decent money, if she comes back she’ll have to be overworked and paid peanuts in a goverment hospital AND attend pointless national service at some point with people 10 years younger.
Plus if anybody has taken a look at the immigration policies of any developed nation, there is always a shortage of doctors and being UK qualified is a free pass to nearly any country.
SO yes, while i laud doctors who put their duty above finanacial considerations, Malaysian really needs to do more than just make empty promises.