KUALA LUMPUR: Aspiring doctors must be screened to ensure they are suited for the profession.
This was among the recommendations of the Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Task Force (HWCITF) to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently, said its chairman Prof Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir.
Siti Hamisah, who is also the UCSI University vice-chancellor, said a screening system would determine whether potential medical students could handle the challenges of becoming a doctor.
These challenges, she said, included long working hours, heavy workload and saving lives.
“Most medical graduates know of these challenges, but they may not be aware of how intense things can get.
“Becoming a medical doctor is not just about having good grades in school.
“Sometimes students who have straight A’s may not necessarily be suitable to be medical doctors.
“They also need to be compassionate and understand humanity,” she said, adding that a screening system requiring prospective students to go through psychometric tests and multiple mini interviews before entry into medical school, would determine whether they were truly fit to be doctors.
Some public universities already had prerequisite entrance tests for medical school candidates, but this was not practised nationwide, she noted.
A screening system could also help students identify other career options within the medical field such as nurses and hospital managers, she said, as not everyone was cut out to be a doctor.
The HWCITF report, which was released on Aug 17, highlighted that housemen’s clinical efficiency had deteriorated over the years.
The task force was set up on May 13 following the death of a houseman attached to the Penang Hospital, in addition to reports and complaints received regarding bullying incidents and psychological stress faced not only by housemen but also health service staffers.
Siti Hamisah, who was the former higher education ministry director-general and the former science, technology and innovation ministry secretary-general, also suggested making it mandatory for foreign medical school graduates to sit for a unified exam.
This, she said, could help to standardise the quality of trainee doctors before their appointment as house officers.
She added that the unified exam would lead to the standardisation of the quality of graduates from various medical schools abroad.
“Coming up with the questions and syllabus is the easy part. The most challenging part is to implement it.
“Those who come from good universities may say, ‘I’m sure I can do it.’
“But those who graduated from questionable institutions may not want it,” she said, stressing that the unified exam and streaming system must be implemented soon to improve the quality of doctors.
Welcoming a screening system, Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said an aptitude test must be part of the process.
“These steps would also ensure that aspiring medical students are making the right choice in career.
“Very often, parents are making the career decision for their children only to learn later that their child is not cut out for the profession.
“Both parents and their children need to be aware that a career in medicine is not a bed of roses before deciding,” he said.
On the suggestion for a unified exam, Dr Muruga said this would ensure that all medical graduates were on the same level.
“There are so many medical colleges but the graduates are at varying levels in their knowledge and training in medicine when they begin their housemanship.
“A unified exam is already being conducted in the United States and in a number of other countries.
“In Europe, all graduates from the European Union have to sit for a European Union board exam to work as doctors in the EU,” he said.
