Selangor Journal
A general view of the Dewan Rakyat during a session in Kuala Lumpur, on December 19, 2022. — Picture by REUTERS

Specialist training increased to 1,500 slots beginning this year — Health Ministry

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) will increase training slots for the Master of Medicine programme up to 1,500 beginning this year to encourage more medical officers to pursue their specialist studies, especially in critical areas.

Its minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said this will be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education to offer 23 specialist areas in eight public universities.

Apart from that, she said training slots under the Parallel Pathway specialist programme sponsored by the MoH have also been increased to 600 every year, involving 14 specialist areas.

“MoH also offers benefits that are similar to fully paid study leave and the Federal Training Prize to medical and dental officers appointed on a contract basis through the MoH Specialist Training Programme and MoH Scholarships.

“It is for them to pursue their Master of Medicine, Master of Dentistry and specialist study in the Parallel Pathway at domestic and foreign institutions starting from the 2022/2023 academic session,” she said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Dr Zaliha was responding to Kuala Nerus MP Datuk Dr Alias Razak, on the ministry’s initiative to encourage more doctors to further their specialist studies, especially in critical areas of expertise.

In addition, she said the ministry’s Public Health programme also offers a Public Health Medical pre-speciality training with a mentor-mentee concept for permanent and contract medical officers who are interested in furthering their studies in the field of public health medicine.

Meanwhile, a total of 7,993 medical officers were currently pursuing their specialist studies under the Master of Medicine programme and Parallel Pathway, as of December 31, last year.

Of the total, 4,586 medical officers are furthering their specialist studies under the Master of Medicine Programme, which covers 23 speciality areas, while 3,407 others are through the Parallel Pathway, which involves 14 speciality areas.

— Bernama

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