This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 19, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Like hundreds of graduate doctors, many pharmacy and dentistry degree holders are facing long delays getting training placements in public hospitals, a prerequisite for registration in their professions.

Some graduates have been waiting for up to six months and have expressed fears of being jobless despite holding a degree in their field.

They said the delay in their placements was due to insufficient openings to accommodate the number of graduates produced by institutions of higher learning each year — a situation the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) warned of four years ago, when it called for a limit to the number of institutions offering accredited courses.

Graduate pharmacist Chong Chih Pin, 25, from Puchong, Selangor, said he noticed a spike in the number of graduates competing for the same jobs, compared to four years ago, when he first applied to study pharmacy.

After registering as a provisionally registered pharmacist in September last year and waiting for months without news of a successful placement, he decided that it was better to do his doctorate in pharmacy than entering the job market. 

“When I started my course, it seemed like I would be guaranteed a job, but now the situation has changed.

“There are definitely more pharmacy graduates and I am not sure [if] there are sufficient job prospects for all of us,” he said.

Chong, a former vice-president of the Malaysian Pharmacy Students’ Association, said based on feedback from the Public Service Department and Pharmacy Board, the earliest intake for pharmacy graduate placements is in March.

MPS president Datuk Nancy Ho warned that limited job prospects for pharmacy graduates could worsen in the next five to 10 years if there is no cap on the number of institutions offering accredited pharmaceutical courses.

She said there are 20 institutions churning out some 1,200 pharmacy graduates a year, a number which had gone up by almost half in recent years.

“The ministries of health and higher education need to get together to stem this problem by not approving any more institutions that offer pharmaceutical courses,” Ho said.

She said the pharmaceutical society had proposed a cap on the number of institutions four years ago, when there were only 16.

“Now at 20 institutions, we have reached a limit based on our manpower projections,” she added.

Dentistry graduates face a similar plight, with many complaining of having to wait for months for a place in a government hospital.

N Mohana, who graduated with a dentistry degree in October last year, applied for placement in a public hospital after registering with the Malaysian Dental Council in November.

“I know 15 other graduate friends who are in the same position.

“I thought applying in less popular districts, such as in Sabah, Melaka and Perak, would improve my chances, but I have been waiting [for] more than four months now,” she said.

Although dentistry graduates are recognised as permanent officers and do not need to undergo training, they are required under the Amendment of Dental Act 1971 to undergo a one-year mandatory service in the health ministry or in an institution approved by the ministry, before going on to practise in either the public or private sector in Malaysia.

Prior to June last year, the mandatory service period for dentists was two years. The reduced period applies to graduates who registered with the Malaysian Dental Council from July 1, 2015, while those who registered prior to that date are still subjected to a two-year training period.

The Malaysian Dental Association (MDA) is also concerned about the rising number of unemployed dental graduates.

“The government has already placed a moratorium on increasing new intake of dental students,” said MDA honorary general secretary Dr Ng Woan Tyng. — The Malaysian Insider