Malaysian Health Ministry may extend moratorium on new medical programmes
29-Feb-16, The Sun Daily
The Ministry of Health is looking to extend the five year moratorium imposed by the government in 2011 on new medical programmes in the country.
Image: Edubeanz
Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the extension would probably be for another five years and would include all institutions of higher education offering such courses.
"We are forced to do this in view of the large number of trainee doctors in the country. Instead of producing new doctors, we will encourage existing medical colleges to emphasis on quality," he said.
There were the 46,916 registered doctors in 2014, with a doctor to population ratio of 1:633, which the government plans to bring down to 1:400 by 2020.