M'sian Health Minister Discusses With Scotland Collaboration In Postgraduate Medical Training

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Health Minister Dr S. Subramaniam has discussed with Scotland a collaboration in postgraduate medical traning. He said the matter was discussed as part of his working visit to Scotland when he met Scottish Cabinet Secretary of Health, Wellbeing and Sports, Shona Robinson in Edinburgh on Tuesday. "Despite the notable achievement of the masters programme conducted by the local universities (in Malaysia), the country is still facing a shortage of specialists to meet the requirements of both public and private sectors. "Hence, to increase the number of specialists, MOH (ministry of health) encourages medical officers to pursue postgraduate training via various parallel pathways, such as the membership programmes," he said in a statement here Wednesday night. Dr Subramaniam said the meeting discussed various options and opportunities for Malaysians and the Scottish to gain and exchange training and experience in mutual ways through both governments' initiatives. Among the issues to be considered include conducting 'Training of Trainers Courses' to strengthen the competency of local trainers in Malaysia, assist in the accreditation of selected MOH hospitals as training centres and mechanism for Malaysian specialists to access quality training posts abroad under the Medical Training Initiative (MTI) scheme. Dr Subramaniam said currently, examples of parallel pathways/membership programmes that had been implemented in Malaysia were Member of the Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom UK), Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, UK, Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, UK, and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, UK. Thus far, he said the ministry had approved four specialists to pursue part of their subspecialty training in various subspecialty areas in the UK, via the MTI scheme. The areas are Nephrology, Cardiology, Geriatric and Respiratory. --BERNAMA