KEMENTERIAN KESIHATAN MALAYSIA 

PRESS STATEMENT

PROPOSAL FOR POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SUBSPECIALTY TRAINING BY THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF IRELAND (RCPI)

1.   Development of specialty and subspecialty services are required to cater for the health need of the nation and contribute towards achieving Health for the Nation, balancing demand, quality and cost.

2.   It is worth mentioning here that, for basic specialty training, Malaysia has its own four (4)-year Masters Programme, which is conducted in the local universities, in 22 various disciplines. In this regard, the number of scholarships available for Masters’ trainees has increased from 450 to 600 in 2008. Since 2011, the number of scholarships offered for the Masters Programme has been further increased to 800 slots.

3.   The Ministry of Health, Malaysia has been conducting the training in a number of subspeciality areas over the years. Since 2001 the Subspecialty Training Programme was formalized in order to have a more structured and systematic training of subspecialists in various specialties.

4.   The main aim of the programme is to provide advanced training and experience in various subspecialty areas at a sufficient level for the trainee to acquire the competency to function as an independent consultant. The Subspecialty Training Programme is based on an apprenticeship and mentoring system where the trainee will assume positions of increasing clinical responsibility in a practice environment. While acquiring skills is an important part of the training, the trainees are expected to improve his knowledge through various learning activities to keep abreast of developments in the science and practice of medicine.

5.   Currently, there are more than 90 subspecialty programmes established under the Ministry of Health. A specialist wishing to further specialize requires to undergo supervised training under a consultant for 2 to 3 year locally and often followed by additional exposure in overseas centres for about 1 year.

6.   Commencing from January 2011, all candidates joining the Subspecialty Programme will be offered scholarship for the entire training period. Annually, the Ministry of Health provides 150 scholarship slots for specialists pursuing the training programme. The number of trainees has increased from 84 in 2001 to about 395 in 2010. Currently as of October 2012, there are a total of 333 trainees in the training programme. The number of new intake varies from 100 – 130 annually. Amongst the popular areas includes Nephrology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Rheumatology, Urology, Breast & Endocrine Surgery, Intensive Care, Spine Orthopaedics and Neonatology. The number of specialists pursuing overseas training has increased from 52 in 2001 to about 90 in 2010.

7.   Following the recent visit by delegates from the Irish Postgraduate Specialists Medical Training Bodies to the Ministry of Health Malaysia in July 2012, it is   proposed that the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Royal College of Physicians, Ireland (RCPI) have a collaborative working arrangements with in the area of Higher Specialist Medical Training (HSMT) and Medical education development for medical professionals.

8.   For a start the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) has given reassurance that the comprehensive training of the local postgraduate Master programme currently being held in Malaysia are fully recognized and appreciated by them and accordingly sees this collaborative approach as a unique opportunity to work together to the benefit of both the Irish and Malaysian Health Services.

9.   Through the strategic collaboration, the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be offering training opportunities in basic specialty and subspecialty. Amongst the basic specialty includes areas such as General Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pathology, Occupational Health Medicine and Public Health Medicine.  

10.  However, since Malaysia has its own local Postgraduate Training Programme (Masters Training Programme (Program Sarjana Perubatan)), the Ministry will be focusing more on taking up the offer on the Medical Subspeciality Training Programme.  The areas that are being offered include Cardiology, Palliative Medicine, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology and Geriatric Medicine. This proposal is seen as timely, since recent development in the regulations and requirement by the UK /Australian authority has reduced the opportunity of our candidates to pursue their overseas training.

11.  This programme offers trainees the opportunity to take up structured training positions in clinical departments in tertiary and secondary referrals hospitals in Ireland. Placements will be in internationally recognized clinical departments with proven academics and research backgrounds with practicing Senior Medical Consultant Trainers for a period of one (1) year. The placement will provide both academic development and practical “on the job” training and experience in various subspecialty being offered. In this regards, the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be providing on an average 2 to 5 training places for most of the subspecialities being offered commencing from the 2013 intake.

12.  It is envisaged that the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be able to provide trans-national access to a world-class UK medical education for a broad range of Malaysian specialists.  With the  Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI)  being institutions of high repute and are world-renown,  it is hope that this collaborative arrangements would have great potential to introduce international and advanced medical education models and teaching methods to Malaysia, to improve on what is already a good system here. 

13.  In addition it is hoped that with this partnership, both countries will work together more closely to achieve the common goal, which is that of ensuring that Malaysia has the highest quality of medical specialists available to deliver healthcare to its population as well as to be recognized as a centre of excellence internationally.