PETALING JAYA, FEB 11 — Medical practitioners agree with the Health Ministry’s proposal to revamp the housemanship structure for better quality healthcare. 

A specialist doctor claimed there is lack of uniformity between Malaysians and international housemen who work in the country. 

“The common medical exam is quite brutal since housemen just finished five to six years of school and training, but it is a necessary step to ensure quality,” he said. 

“There’s no formal credential system for housemanship and this (the revamp) would be an effective move to ensure sufficient adequacy among trainee doctors.”

A medical officer said trainees are more focused on their social lives rather than their profession.

“Most trainees now want a normal life, working eight to 10 hours a day, with their weekends free and they expect high salaries when they become doctors,” he said. 

“Any houseman can become a medical officer, even if he doesn’t do anything for two years. If the examination is strict, then we can see a rise in healthcare quality.”

He said more people now prefer to be attended by medical officers rather than housemen because they believe that the former was better trained. 

A former medical officer said doctors are leaving government hospitals because of low salary and long working hours.

“We are overworked and underpaid in government hospitals. Frequent on-calls prevent us from having enough time for ourselves and families,” he said.

“Now that we’ve left the service, we’re still practicing in a different setting and with better pay and hours.”

However, the medical practitioners disagree with the idea of allowing housemen to choose their desired field in their second year.

“One year of training is too short to have learned anything. There are six departments that a houseman needs to understand before graduating or even becoming a General Practitioner (GP),” one of them said.

“Housemen as GPs in their second year will be swamped with patients, and they would not know what to do without proper guidance compared to those in hospitals.”

The Malay Mail reported yesterday the Health Ministry was drafting a new blueprint to improve healthcare quality, housemanship for trainee doctors and solve the influx of medical students. 

Its deputy director-general Datuk Dr S. Jeyaindran said the ministry was aware of the industry’s problems and will embark on several steps to address the issue. 

He also clarified the housemen:patient ratio is now 1:3.33, and the ministry is moving it to 1:4 and gradually to 1:8 in keeping with international norms. 

The doctor:patient ratio varies on how ill the patient is and the doctor’s seniority. It is a reverse ratio, he said.

*In our report yesterday, the photographs of Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan and Dr Jeyaindran were inadvertently transposed. The error is regretted.