Malaysia wants to stop medical brain drain
By Charlene Chin
Fighting the outflow of doctors to Singapore.
Image: Phalinn Ooi, licensed under CC BY 2.0
A large number of Malaysian doctors are now practicing in Singapore, said Datuk Ayob Rahmat, State Health and Environment Committee Chairman, according to The Star.
To counter that, the government wants to provide more jobs to retain the talent in the industry. “We are looking at the possibility of creating a medical hub in Iskandar and looking at creating a niche in at least five to six fields”, he said. This includes “a hub for cancer, cardiology, urology, women and child healthcare centre”.
“We are also looking at medical tourism, medical entrepreneurs such as those who can provide supporting services, pharmaceutical manufacturing and village for the elderly,” Ayob said.
There are plans to expand the private wing in government hospitals, to prevent the drain of doctors to the private sector or overseas, he said.
“So far the pilot project is being done at Hospital Sultan Ismail and we hope to expand this to other hospitals,” he added.