Accept offered courses and appeal later, doctor wannabes told

KUALA LUMPUR: Students who failed in their application to do medicine at public universities should accept other medical-related courses and appeal later, said Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan.

He said 1,163 of 3,062 students with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0 applied to do medicine this year.

"However, we only have 418 places in local universities," he told a press conference.

He noted that the places offered at the universities were reduced from 690 last year based on the recommendations of the Malaysian Medical Council because of oversupply of doctors.

"Some of these students may not have done well in their interviews (for medical courses) but they are usually given courses in related fields such as pharmacy," he said.

He said such students should first accept the offers and appeal later.

"They can first go to the university that was offered to them and later write to the university of their choice - if there are still places for medicine available, they may get a chance," Kamalanathan said.