Health Ministry mulls training housemen at private medical university hospitals

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is mulling the idea of training medical housemen at private medical university hospitals should they fulfill the requirements set by the ministry, said its Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam (pix).
He said some of the requirements include having enough patients, beds and specialists departments.
"If all the requirements have been met, then there should not be a problem for housemen to be trained there," he told a press conference after officiating the International Medical University (IMU) ground breaking ceremony of its first hospital, here today.
Dr Subramaniam said the idea was still being discussed and would be implemented in the near future.
IMU's chief executive officer and vice-chancellor Professor Abdul Aziz Baba meanwhile said at IMU, the patient was the centre of everything, from its processes and procedures to the way specialists were recruited.
"Patients will have access to the latest equipment and facilities and be treated by some of the country's best medical practitioners, by virtue of being part of a university," he said.
IMU Hospital, with an estimated cost of between RM150 million and RM200 million, will be built on the land adjacent to the university and is targeted to be operational in 2021.
Phase 1 of the hospital will open up to 96 inpatient beds with three operating theatres, an emergency room, 22 specialist clinics and two Wellness clinics. It will expand gradually to a 312-bed hospital.