KUCHING: Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has announced that all medical graduates from unrecognised overseas universities can now sit for the Medical Qualifying Examination (MQE) at all 16 medical schools in the country.

The 16 universities are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Penang Medical College, International Medical University, AIMST University, Melaka-Manipal Medical College, Royal College of Medicine Perak, Monash University Sunway Campus, UCSI University, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Management and Science University.

“The graduates previously could only sit for the examination at three local universities; namely UM, UKM and USM. From now onwards, they can sit for the exam in all medical schools in Malaysia.

“Furthermore, the graduates can now sit for the MQE until they pass it. In the past, it was limited to three times only,” Liow told reporters after holding a dialogue with some Sarawakian medical graduates from universities in China on Labour Day.

On the 16 medical schools, he said they offered 17 medical programmes.

Liow explained that medical graduates from unrecognised universities needed to pass the MQE in order to start their housemanship and be registered as medical doctors in Malaysia.

He revealed that Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) was in the process of recognising the 11 top medical schools in China, which was proposed by a group of medical graduates from China universities to Ministry of Health in a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The medical schools are Shanghai Medical University, Beijing Medical University, Jinan University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Tongji Medical College, Zhejiang University School of Medical, Tianjin Medical University, Peking Union Medical College, Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Medicine, Wuhan University and The West China College of Medicine, Sichuan University.

“MMC will visit the universities in China to accredit their medical degrees so that we can recognise them as soon as we can,” Liow said.

SUPP secretary-general Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, who was also present at the dialogue, welcomed the announcement as a move to enable the medical graduates obtain the MQE qualification. This he said would especially benefit those from Sarawak as they no longer needed to travel to Kuala Lumpur for the exam.

“They prefer to take the exam here because the cost will be lower,” he said.

According to Malaysian Medical Resources website, MQE is designed to be similar to the final year examination for local medical students.

(Source: Borneo Post Online, 3 May 2012)