KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has explained that its proposal to shorten housemanship from two years to one is intended to improve efficiency and productivity.
Health director-general Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan explained that the training period for medical doctors in Malaysia used to be one year, before housemanship was extended to two years in 2008.
Housemanship was extended then because of an increase in medical graduates amid insufficient specialist doctors and senior medical officers (MOs) for the supervision of house officers (HOs).
“Based on current planning, and after several improvements to the training process, including the rising number of specialist doctors and specialist hospitals, the MOH is in the final stages of a review to return to shortened housemanship training of one year,” Dr Radzi said in a statement yesterday.
“Based on a comprehensive review of the current training system and the latest developments in Malaysia’s health service, the one-year training period is expected to be more efficient, with the condition of improving the quality of training. This proposal is also in line with practices in other countries.”
The MOH’s Facebook post of the Health DG’s statement received over 200 comments, most of which were negative. Many questioned the impact of a shorter training period on the quality of doctors. “Doctors need training and experience. We’re talking about patients’ lives here,” one wrote.
Dr Radzi said a shorter housemanship period is in line with the Medical Act 1971 that mandates minimum one-year training for house officers.
“Besides that, this proposal is aimed at resolving issues that are frequently raised by HOs, like a high workload and lack of recognition. The main focus is to increase their clinical exposure and motivation,” he said.
“I wish to stress that the reduction of the training period is not meant to manage the shortage of medical officers, but is aimed at increasing productivity through more focused and efficient training.”
The Health DG said if the proposal is implemented, the first year of housemanship will comprise the medical, surgical, and obstetrics & gynaecology departments. In the second year, they will assume the role of junior medical officers and rotate between the paediatric, orthopaedics, and emergency departments.
“Training in anaesthesia, psychiatry, and family medicine will be absorbed into the training schedule at the relevant departments to ensure more efficient training,” he said.
“The MOH will ensure that HOs achieve the required competency level before transitioning to the role of junior MO. In this context, supervisors in training centres will play an important role in training, supervising, and evaluating their performance. If their performance is unsatisfactory, the training period can be extended to ensure their quality and competency.”
Dr Radzi said the MOH has done stakeholder engagement sessions with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (AMM), higher education institutions, and the heads of specialty.
