Another Move To Upgrade Medical Education In Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with two British educational institutions to help develop world-class medical education in the country. The signing of the MoU with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) London and University of Newcastle-upon-Thyne was witnessed by Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai. Liow said the first batch of 30 senior doctors and medical specialists will begin their training in March, in this effort to develop excellent medical educators. "The course is important because they need to give guidance to the medical graduates employed by the ministry to undergo housemanship. "This is the beginning. We will train more in the future. We would like the public to know that we are very concerned about continuous upgrading of the ministry's quality of services," he told reporters after the signing ceremony. At the signing, Newcastle University was represented by its chief executive officer and provost Prof Reginald Keniston Jordan, RCP by its chief executive Martin Else and the ministry by secretary-general Kamarul Zaman Md Isa. Liow said the MoU will provide for both countries to work together more closely to achieve the common goal of ensuring that Malaysia has medical specialists of the highest quality to deliver healthcare to its population as well as to be recognised as a centre of excellence internationally. The collaboration will also work towards developing a complementary and parallel suite of academic programmes at certificate, diploma and masters levels for the present and future leaders of medical education and the country's health services, he added. -- BERNAMA Malaysia