Too many medical schools but none of calibre
With the announcement of Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS) to offer medical degrees courses, the total number of medical schools in the country will be 17.
This figure exceeds the number of medical schools in Singapore(1), Canada(16), Ireland(5) and even Australia(11). This figure I’m sure will keep multiplying fast over the years as privatization of our health and education systems continue. The proposed Health Insurance Scheme will further enhance its growth in the name of achieving a developed status by 2020.
In the enthusiasm of increasing the number of doctors very quickly, we have overlooked the two most important prerequisites for the training of doctors. These are adequate experienced qualified teachers who themselves are practicing clinicians and secondly a properly equipped and administered teaching hospital. If one were to closely scrutinize our medical schools, both public and private, none of them will fulfill these 2 important criteria.
As a result we are churning out doctors who are lacking in clinical skills. This was lamented recently by the Director General of Health.
In the private medical schools, the centers are basically run by expatriate lecturers, who are here for a living, least so for the training of our doctors. These schools attract students by awarding degrees from foreign colleges, a program fashionably termed, twinning.
They do not have their own hospitals and the lecturers are not fully practicing clinicians. We have medical students who pass out as doctors without proper clinical exposure. It is like a football coach teaching to play the game without the players touching the ball.
In the public medical schools, emphasis is just on the lecturers-student ratio and not on the quality or experience of these lecturers. We may have adequate number of lecturers but they are mainly junior and inexperienced. The brain drain has depleted our medical schools of invaluable experienced and dedicated specialists.
Medical training is a stewardship where the student has to be “attached” to his teacher all the time, in the emergency room, in the wards, operation theatre, outpatient clinics and finally during follow-up visit after discharge. He learns to manage the patient by observing and assisting the teacher, who is actively, involved in the management the patient himself. In the process the knowledge, skills and ethics of the profession are transferred to the potential doctor.
Regrettably this form of training, once a standard practice, is not seen in our medical schools these days. Although exorbitant fees are charged but the students do not get their money’s worth in return.
We have many teaching centers with excellent equipment but none of our medical degrees are recognized internationally. What is more distressing is that our authorities are least bothered about international recognition. We want to become a regional centre for medical treatment and training but our standards are in fact declining over the years. In contrast Australia with 11 medical schools and Singapore with just 1 have achieved excellent international status in medical practice and are far ahead of us.
Dr.Chris Anthony
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