Moratorium on medical studies to be reviewed

KUALA LUMPUR: The current moratorium on new medical programmes, which ends this year, is being reviewed.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalana­than said the matter would be decided next month or so.

“The ministry is reviewing the issue. We will bring it up to the Cabinet by February,” he said after opening the Star Education Fair 2015. In 2011, the Higher Education Ministry announced a five-year freeze on new medical programmes in view of a glut in trainee doctors.

Earlier in his speech, Kamalanathan said parents and students should explore study options beyond traditional fields of medicine and law.

“Sometimes parents are stricter than the Malaysian Qualifications Agency – they only seem to recognise these four fields (medicine, engineering, law and accounting).

“Other countries have a similar issue; at the National University of Singapore, there are only 300 seats for medicine, with 3,000 students applying for them.”

“Exhibitions like the Star Education Fair help show us that the world is more than just that,” he said.

Star Publications (M) Berhad group managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai echoed the view, saying that more should break out of conventional mindsets.

“I also sit on the Council of Governance of the National Innovation Agency (under the Prime Minister’s Department) and this is the subject that comes up all the time.

On another matter, Kamalanathan said the Star Education Fair, which has been running since 1987, was a pioneering concept in its efforts to help youngsters explore their study options.

“It is like the Marco Polo of this area – others may come and go, but we all know of the Star Education Fair,” he said.

This fair continues today from 11am to 7pm at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Aside from hosting over 140 local and foreign exhibitors, the fair also features talks on financing higher education as well as career paths by industry experts.

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