According to the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) there must be proper planning of healthcare human resources according to the needs and population growth of the country and sufficient time is needed to train healthcare workers.

Malaysia has yet to meet the recommended 1:400 doctors to patient ratio in public healthcare facilities and some hospitals, the ratio should go up as high as one doctor to 1,000 patients and also shortages in public healthcare specialists.

One worry is an ageing population might not have sufficient specialists in the future as the demand for specialist services is expected to further increase due to the upcoming large ageing population in the country.

Malaysia is expected to reach ageing nation status in 2030 where 15 percent of the population will be 60 years or older and the nation must prepare for these ageing demographics and change in our population.

The MMA stated that it is unwise for the Public Service Department’s (PSD) decision to stop scholarships for first degrees in the medical field which is at a time the nation faces a shortage of medical professionals.

Instead of abruptly stopping the scholarships for medical students, the MMA suggests that there be management and control of the number of medical students and stopping their scholarships is not the way.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE