POSER FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS TRAINED OUTSIDE MALAYSIA

The following news articles appeared on the December 1st issue of the Star.

It should be of interest to Ikmal and his friends who are pursuing medical studies abroad.

Students being trained locally are aware of the conditions in the hospitals during their housemanship period. Personally, I think the government should do something to remedy the difficulties due to the long working hours imposed on fresh housemen when they start working after graduation. Sometimes I think the senior doctors purposely like to bully the new interns instead of giving them a friendly helping hand.

On the students' part, they should come back to serve in our hospitals with an open mind. There is no need to compare with the advanced or otherwise poor conditions they experienced during their training overseas.Even locally trained students get a culture shock when they start their medical career in Malaysian hospitals.

Students should concentrate on mastering the clinical skills and knowledge during their medical training and be prepared to adapt and learn some more when they return. They must remember that the housemanship does not last forever. Nowadays it is even easier to pursue further postgaduate qualifications after the housemanship. So , there is definitely a better life after the houseman period. There is no need to feel depressed and regret you became a doctor.

Many medical students suffer from depression

By M. KRISHNAMOORTHY, THE STAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Many Malaysian medical students overseas who take examinations in a foreign language suffer from depression when they return.
Physicians for Peace and Social Responsibility (PPSR) vice-president Datuk Dr Abdul Hamid Abdul Kadir said that large numbers of young Malaysians were being trained in foreign medical schools in Indonesia, Russia, India, Poland, Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
At a forum on Saturday organised by the PPSR, it was highlighted that at least five such houseman are found to suffer from mental illnesses every month.
“These countries have varied systems of medical training and different types of patient care, based on the emphasis of the country. As a result, many of the students who go there undergo a culture shock,” said Dr Abdul Ha­­mid.
“Coming from different universities, backgrounds and experiences, they have difficulty relating and working, especially the weaker students,” he said, adding that there had been a sudden sprouting of many public and private medical schools.
While the schools have increased, however, the number of teaching hospitals have not.
Dr Abdul Hamid said that although there was an increasing demand for doctors, the standards and quality of patient care should not be compromised.
“These are the major concerns which the country’s healthcare and medical educational planners have to constantly bear in mind so that the value systems governing the training of our doctors are never lost sight of in the short term and the long term.”