I wrote about the Australian Internship Crisis in 2012 over HERE and HERE. While in Malaysia, PMC students are considering going to Ireland for Internship, the Australian government has introduced some measures to reduce the Internship crisis. I must warn PMC students that many doctors are leaving Ireland due to poor pay and poor working condition, including long working hours. That’s the reason why Irish Medical Council has recognised Malaysian housemanship training. They need more doctors to replace those who are leaving to UK, Australia and New Zealand. You can read over HERE and HERE.
IN 2012 , I wrote that Australia is facing internship crisis and it should worsen further. I also wrote several times on local graduates who passed AMC exams but never manage to get internship post. Many had to come back to Malaysia to do housemanship. They skipped housemanship in Malaysia, being confident that they will be guaranteed a job in Australia if they pass AMC exams. I had always said that passing entrance exams do not guarantee you a job anywhere.
One of my blog reader sent me some interesting information on what is happening in Australia. For those who have time, you can read THIS interesting document by Medical Training Review Panel which is almost close to 300 pages long. It has many interesting facts. If you look at page 52 and 53, you will realise that only 10 Monash Malaysia graduates were given internship post for 2014 (look under the table). You will also notice that only 6 graduates of AMC exams were given internship post. Page 11 is also interesting to read. At page 18, you will realise that there are 18 accredited medical schools in Australia. 45% of them(comprising 50% of students) are graduate entry program (interesting info from page 18-31). Page 42 to 49 also has some interesting information regarding the number of international student graduates.
At page 51 , you will realise that they have started a program known as Commonwealth Medical Internship (CMI) initiative. For those international students graduating from Australian onshore medical schools who did not manage to get the usual internship in public service hospitals, you are eligible to apply for CMI. The CMI document is over HERE. In 2014, out of 497 international medical graduates, 277 manage to get internship and another 76 were given under the CMI program. So, either 144 remaining students did not apply or did not get internship program in either pathway. Most students who go to Australia do not come back unless they are sponsored by their government and required to come back.
The CMI initiative places graduates in private hospitals, general practise and rural health care centres coordinated by private hospitals. Definitely, this is not an ideal setting for internship training. At page 16, you will realise that Monash Malaysia and IMU twinning program graduates are NOT eligible for CMI program! This CMI program also comes with a bond. You are required to serve rural area for atleast 48 weeks as a return of service obligation ( see page 19). There is a penalty if you breach the contract.
I thank Nav for giving me the link to this documents. Basically what I am trying to say is that the situation in other countries are also tight when it comes to internship placement. You need to think wisely before investing close to RM 1 million if you intend to send your child to Australia to do medicine and planning to migrate. Never do medicine if you intend to migrate!
Medical school graduates set for training in Ireland
Published: 24 June 2015 11:50 AM
Penang Medical College (PMC) graduates from the class of 2015 may apply for internship in Ireland.
PMC is the only medical school outside the EU whose graduates have this privilege.
This internship is recognised by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and the medical councils of many other countries.
Penang Medical College is wholly owned by the world-renowned Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and University College Dublin (UCD).
All 97 graduates received their sought medical degrees: MB BCh BAO (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Obstetrics) from the National University of Ireland (NUI), the RCSI or UCD, officially becoming doctors with globally recognised qualifications.
Malaysian graduates are also guaranteed houseman positions in Malaysia, recognised by the Irish Medical Council (IMC).
“Over the years, PMC has been contributing to healthcare worldwide, and in Malaysia in particular, through its globally-recognised doctors graduating from Penang, or the RCSI and UCD campuses in Dublin,” said PMC President, ceo and Dean, Professor Amir Khir.
“As PMC moves forward to position itself to play a larger role as a leading medical degree education provider in the region and beyond, PMC graduates are the future doctors of the world with an international network of healthcare professionals as a resource.”
The graduate doctors also received licentiates from the RCSI and the Royal College Physicians in Ireland (RCPI).
PMC students spend their first two-and-a-half years in either RCSI or UCD medical schools, where they undergo intensive pre-clinical training.
They are also taught by experienced scientists and leading medical doctors in their respective fields.
PMC students then return to Penang for clinical training for two-and-a-half years at PMC. – June 24, 2015.
Nine in 10 medical students may leave Ireland on qualifying
Culture of ‘intention to migrate’ across all six of State’s medical training schools
Nine out of 10 medical students plan to leave or are “contemplating” leaving Ireland when they qualify, a new study involving the State’s six training schools has found.
Career opportunities, working conditions and lifestyle are cited as the top three factors for migration by some 88 per cent of over 2,000 students surveyed.
The study led by NUI Galway (NUIG) and published on Thursday has found pay was not a key issue among the respondents.
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Generation Emigration: Irish Times site for Irish abroad
The Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association had said highly trained doctors are being “driven out”.
The study’s supervisor, NUIG senior lecturer in social and preventive medicine Dr Diarmuid O’Donovan, has called for action to retain medical graduates and attract back those who have already emigrated.
Staff at HSE West’s public health department and at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Limerick, University College Cork, University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin were involved with NUIG in the study, published in the open access journal Human Resources for Health.
Work and lifestyle
Some 1,519 of the 2,000-plus medical students surveyed were Irish, and some 85 per cent of the total identified career opportunities as a determining factor in going abroad. Some 83 per cent identified working conditions, and 80 per cent identified lifestyle as factors.
Some 34.3 per cent said they were “definitely” planning to migrate, and a further 53.3 per cent said they were contemplating it – a total of almost 88 per cent.
Final-year NUIG medical student Pishoy Gouda, the principal investigator, said previous studies on this theme had focused on graduates, whereas this analysis involved junior, intermediate and senior students in the six medical schools.
“We found the outcome alarming, as it shows that even pre-med and first-year students are thinking about leaving already,” he said. It reflected a “widespread culture of intention to migrate” in the medical schools.
Career stages
While medical graduates traditionally sought experience abroad, the research indicated there were several opportunities during different career stages to leave.
“This outflow of qualified personnel may represent a financial loss to the Irish healthcare system,” he noted.
Almost two-thirds said they did not have a great understanding of the training following graduation, and one-third surveyed also indicated they had a poor understanding of how the Irish healthcare system worked.
Mr Gouda said postgraduate opportunities should also be made more accessible to non-EU students trained in Ireland. European working laws make it difficult for non-EU graduates of Irish medical schools to obtain Irish intern or pre-registration/ foundation-year positions.
Dr O’Donovan said the outflow of human capital meant Ireland was having to make enormous efforts to attract medical staff from other countries, including developing nations.
“ Not only is this a problem for Irish recruitment, but we need to be mindful of World Health Organisation guidelines on international recruitment and taking skilled personnel away from countries that have medical staff shortages,” Dr O’Donovan noted.
