PETALING JAYA: Krish (not his real name) graduated as a doctor from a university in Indonesia. He turned down a chance to be a houseman.
Instead, he has now gone into business, handling phones and gadgets.
It’s far more lucrative than being a doctor, he says.
“There is greater potential in business than in medicine. Career progress is also greater. However, I do not regret my decision to study medicine as the knowledge is very handy,” he said.
Asked why he preferred business, Krish said the lack of a certain future due to the contract system had made him rethink housemanship.
He felt the time spent on housemanship and serving on contract could be invested in developing his gadget business.
“That time could be invested in growing sales and income. I would probably be able to see some growth in a few years. In public health, I would still be waiting for a permanent position,” he said.
He is not alone. Alternative career options and better opportunities abroad are causing many medical graduates to shun housemanships, although that leaves them without the licence to practise medicine.
Another graduate who only wanted to be known as Lee, said she preferred to do her housemanship in Singapore than in Malaysia.
“It is easier because then, I can just practise straight. The pay in Singapore is better and the work life is also better than what I have heard from my seniors in Malaysia.
“When I convert my salary into ringgit, I probably make the same as those who are more senior than me,” she said.
The Star reported in May last year that about 30% of medical graduates from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) have moved to Singapore for housemanship in recent years.
In 2024, more than 60 out of 160 UM graduates chose to work there. Similarly, in 2023, 30 out of 150 UKM graduates crossed the Causeway.
Another doctor currently serving in a government hospital in Selangor said some of her peers who graduated from private universities had practised overseas as their universities had tie-ups with hospitals abroad.
“Some have gone to Australia, others to New Zealand,” she said, adding that she did not have the same opportunity due to her financial situation.
“I had to work part-time to fund my studies. Thankfully, I was able to go to public university due to my good results,” she said.
Things could get worse.
Singapore’s Health Ministry, in a statement in January, said it would be recognising eight more medical schools, including Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) School of Medical Sciences from Feb 1.
“All graduates from these medical schools, regardless of nationality, and whether they graduate before or after 2026, can apply for registration with the council to practise medicine in Singapore, subject to the fulfilment of the council’s prevailing requirements,” it said.
Following the announcement, a senior doctor in the republic invited USM medical graduates to do their housemanship in the country.
