This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 16, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite graduating with a medical degree in October last year, Muhammad Faiz Hassan, 29, is working odd jobs, repairing cars and dabbling in wedding photography to support himself.

He is among hundreds of future doctors, who are forced to earn a living in fields unrelated to their medical studies, because of a two-year backlog of housemanship placements in public hospitals.

“I’ve heard that we may be expected to wait from six months up to a year for a placement,” said Muhammad Faiz, from Batu Pahat, Johor.

Muhammad Faiz, a National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN) recipient, said he felt pressured to find employment fast after receiving an email informing him that he was required to start repaying the loan, six months from the notice date. 

“My course was RM300,000 in total and I took the maximum loan of RM150,000 under PTPTN,” he said.

He said most of his seniors have to wait long despite having gone for the Public Services Commission (PSC) interview, after which they were given an online ID to track their housemanship application.

“I am still waiting to go for my PSC interview. If this can be sped up, it would be helpful.”

Mastura Mukhtar, 24, from Alor Star, Kedah, said many of her seniors have to wait two to three months after their PSC interview before getting a placement.

“At least, if we are called for the PSC interview faster, we will not have to wait so long,” she said.

According to Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Ashok Philips, the current backlog was because of a shortage, following a government freeze on posts.

“There are only 5,000 housemanship posts each year in the 43 public hospitals nationwide.

“There are about the same number of medical graduates a year … some 20% of housemen take more than two years (the stipulated period) to finish, which creates a backlog in the number of available posts,” he said. — The Malaysian Insider