Bid to solve medical college woes

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang branch of the Labour Department will convene a meeting today with the Allianze University College of Medical Sciences (AUCMS) over claims that its staff have not been paid their salaries for months.
A source told theSun the meeting will focus on finding a solution to resolving the alleged financial problems faced by the college and also settling the outstanding payment to the staff.
The college has about 2,000 students and about 500 staff members.
The meeting comes after some 100 AUCMS employees held a protest rally outside their premises in Butterworth on Sept 8 over not being paid their salaries since early this year, with them claiming that the management owes an outstanding payment of about RM800,000.
Pharmaceutical instructor and spokesman for the disgruntled group, Marzuki Din, 60, said he has yet to hear from the management since bringing up the issue for the past few months and is now considering approaching politicians to assist them in their plight as they have families to feed and bills to pay.
"Who knows, they (politicians) may be able to help us," he told theSun when contacted.
It is understood that some staff had to borrow money to meet their monthly household expenses and pay for their children's education.
Students are also affected by the alleged financial imbroglio, with some failing to get places in other private medical institutions of their choice after the Education Ministry allowed them to do so while the college sorts out its internal crisis.
This is reportedly due to their chosen institutes exceeding the lecturer-to-student ratio set by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).
Second year medical student J. Yoggeswara said he was offered a place at the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) but was shocked when the placement was cancelled at the last minute.
"I am extremely frustrated over the situation. I really want to continue my studies to be a doctor," the 20-year-old said and urged a quick solution.
Meanwhile, factory senior manager G. Moorthy called on the authorities to relax the lecturer-student ratio ruling as he could not send his daughter overseas to pursue her dreams.
"She cannot be wasting her time like this while the situation is being sorted out. Those in charge should let students like her continue with their studies," he stressed.
According to Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (FOMCA) vice-president K. Korris Atan, there are 476 AUCMS students whose future now look bleak.
"These students were shocked when they were informed their placements were cancelled due to the ratio," he said, adding that 208 were offered places at the Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, 86 at AIMST University and 22 at the Royal Medical College of Perak, with the remaining 160 being left out.
Meanwhile, AUCMS registrar Datuk Basir Elon told theSun the Education Ministry had given them six months to resolve the issue.
"It is difficult for me to say when the university can be back to normal, we are trying to resolve the situation first.
"What I can I tell you is the problem faced by AUCMS students is being discussed at the ministry level," he said, declining to elaborate further.
AUCMS founder, Datuk Zainuddin Wazir, a professional cardiothoracic surgeon who is the executive chairman of AUCMS, could not be reached for comment as the college authorities said they too are not sure whether he is still in the country or overseas.
The college, apart from its twinning medical degree programme with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, has a longstanding collaboration with Universitas Sumatera Utara in Indonesia.
According to sources, the partnership with Tabung Haji had given confidence to many lecturers, staff and parents to work at and send their children to AUCMS to pursue medicine due to its strong financial standing.
In fact, due to the partnership with Tabung Haji, AUCMS in 2010 had announced that it would be entering into a rapid expansion phase.
However, all these came to an end when Tabung Haji, for some reason, ceased its partnership with AUCMS since July 3, 2012.
A Tabung Haji source, who did not want to disclose details as to why it withdrew, said they are aware that the AUCMS financial crisis began after they ended their partnership.