Health Ministry took steps to ease housemenship: Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has taken steps to address the challenges faced by housemen during their training at hospitals.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said he had instructed several departments under the ministry to provide exposure and counselling for the housemen.
"During the housemanship programme, if a candidate finds that a particular place is too stressful, they will be transferred to another hospital and their progress will be monitored," he told reporters today after launching the Workplace Health Seminar here.
He said 30% of medical candidates extend their medical training after the initial two-year period.
Subramaniam said others have left their training or were removed from the system because they could not fulfil the requirements.
"The reasons are that they can't take the stress, causing them to resign. Some whom I've met resigned within 24 hours," he said.
He added that interviews and aptitude tests that are conducted before entering the medical profession, such as in Australia and local government-based universities, has its merits although some may view it as discriminatory.
"What we're worried about is personal bias because the person being interviewed is a human being (with their own perceptions).
"The fear is that their own perceptions may affect their performance.
"Private colleges, however, aren't doing it because it's all about business," he said.
He was responding to Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa's statement on hospital interns making up the highest number of civil servants served with termination notices.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, he urged employers to have their employees undergo free health screening under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) which stands to benefit both sides in the long term.
He was disappointed that although 2.6 million Socso contributors are eligible under this scheme, only 483,000 people have come forward.
"What has happened to the 2.1 million employees?" he said, saying that both employers and their staff stand to gain in the long term if the facility is used.
The programme was first made available in 2013 and RM 200,000 was allocated under Socso.