For many SPM leavers, one of the most
popular courses in the university will be the medical programme. Therefore,
in this post, I will be explaining the pathway of becoming a doctor and how to
become a specialist in Malaysia.
Foundation
After passing your SPM exam, you have to
join the foundation course. There are many foundation courses available such as
STPM, matriculation course, A-level, International Baccalaureate or any of the
university pre-medical programmes. These programmes usually last between 1-3
years.
Medical Schools
After successfully passing the foundation
course, you have to compete with thousands of applicants to get into the
medical programme. There are many local universities which have offered medical
degree in Malaysia. If you are fortunate, you may also able to go to overseas
to pursue your medical degree. On average, the duration of the medical
programme is between 5-6 years.
Housemanship/Internship
After graduating from the medical school,
you will be entitled to join the internship/housemanship at any government
hospital. In Malaysia, the duration of housemanship is 2 years. You have to do
six postings throughout your housemanship.
Medical officer
Next will be your journey as a medical
officer. Depending on the availability, you will be posted to any
hospital/government clinics but not necessarily of your own choice. Please bear
in mind that as a government servant, the Ministry of Health has the right to
place its employee according to the availability.
I believe this is the longest part of
career as a doctor. This is the most important part of your career in which you
choose your own pathway.
If you are no longer interested to pursue
in medicine, you can quit from the job and try to get an alternative job. If
you are keen to become a researcher, you can try applying for jobs in any of
the research centre in Malaysia or overseas.
Specialist
If you are interested to pursue to become
a specialist, you can either join the local Master programme or if possible to
sit for any UK-based exam eg MRCP, MRCS, FRCR etc.
The local master programme last on average
4 years followed by 6 months period of gazettement. After you are recognised as
a specialist by Ministry of Health, you can choose to join the training
programme for any subspecialty you are interested.
-------------------------
This post was written in response to one of the comment I received in this post
