Only one-year mandatory service

KUALA LUMPUR: The compulsory service for all dentistry graduates will be reduced from two years to one year effective July, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said graduates who had registered with the Malaysian Dental Council would be placed under the ministry to undergo possible training.

The move, he said, was due to the tremendous increase in the number of graduates of up to 30%, as well as to ensure that new graduates would continue to serve under the mi­­nis­try.

“In the one-year compulsory service, we will give them adequate training so that they have the knowledge and skills to be competent dentists.

“For those who served their compulsory one year, they may join the private sector or if they wish to continue training elsewhere or do postgraduate studies, they may do so,” he told a press conference after launching the Malaysian International Dental Exhibition and Conference (Midec) here yesterday.

Also present were the ministry’s Oral Health Division principal director Datuk Dr Khairiyah Abdul Muttalib and Midec organising chairman Dr Shalini Kanagasingam.