KL prescribes scholarships for shortage of specialist MDs
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Suffering a shortage of specialist doctors, Malaysia is increasing the number of scholarships for the local Masters programme from 450 to 1,000 slots.
The 1,000 scholarships will be available to doctors who plan to specialise in the fields of their choice beginning this year, said Health Minister S Subramaniam.
He said there were currently 3,714 specialists in the government sector and an estimated 8,000 in the private sector, meaning that only about 70 per cent of posts were filled.
“We also encourage our medical officers to pursue the specialist programme via various pathways such as the membership programmes,” said Dr Subramaniam before opening the 10th Health Ministry-Academy of Medicine Malaysia Scientific Meeting on Sunday.
He urged medical practitioners to always strive for excellence and not be satisfied with being “run of the mill” doctors, adding that government was looking to increase the number of specialists in areas including radiology, pathology and emergency medicine.
