Two Doctors In Parallel Pathway Lawsuit Get Job Offers Abroad

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Two cardiothoracic surgery graduates involved in a lawsuit over the parallel pathway issue have received job offers abroad, according to surgeon Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid.
Hanafiah, who is pro-vice chancellor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur campus, revealed that one graduate received an offer from the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.
The other, who wanted to become a paediatric cardiac surgeon, has been offered a job at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London.
“We are trying very hard to persuade our recently qualified cardiac surgeons to stay. They wanted to (I know their heart is here), but somehow, they are frustrated […]
“Both are Malay surgeons, in case you wonder. (But) to me, this is not relevant info,” he wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Hanafiah did not name the graduates who received the offers nor specify whether they were taking them up.
Nevertheless, he lamented the “brain drain” and warned that more will leave if Malaysia fails to take swift action.
“I know they will stay if we can solve this issue fast. Otherwise, we will lose more than just the two,” he said while thanking the Health Ministry and the minister’s efforts to convince them to stay in Malaysia.
On March 20, four graduates of a parallel pathway training with the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh filed a judicial review to contest the Malaysian Medical Council’s (MMC) decision to reject their application to register themselves on the National Specialist Register (NSR).
The four are Dr Nur Aziah Ismail, Dr Syed Nasir Syed Hassan, Dr Chong Kee Soon and Dr Lok Yuh Ing.
The MMC said it does not recognise the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS Ed) qualification, while the graduates argued the MMC had repeatedly signalled that parallel pathway for surgery and the FRCS Ed is recognised.
The case has prompted controversial calls to open up Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-bumiputra students as a temporary solution to the issue and to resolve a general shortage of medical specialists.
The Malaysian Medical Association has said Malaysia’s population-to-specialist ratio is 10,000 to four, much lower than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development’s (OECD) average of 10,000: 14.3.
A search on the NSR revealed that only 88 doctors have listed cardiothoracic surgery as their first or second speciality.
According to the health news portal CodeBlue, the case is the third known lawsuit on the parallel pathway issue.
The other two are a lawsuit by a neurosurgeon with the FRCS Ireland qualification in neurosurgery and six pathology graduates in medical genetics from Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad is expected to present proposal papers to the cabinet to address the issue, following the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ advice to amend several laws.
- Mkini

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