KUALA LUMPUR, 18 March 2009: The medical degree (MBBS) from Universiti Malaya (UM) has not been recognised by the European Union since its medical student intake of 1990.
Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Haron said that according to the General Medical Council (GMC)’s stipulation, MBBS programmes outside the EU did not qualify for its recognition.
“This ruling does not only apply to the medical degrees from Malaysia, but also from the universities in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore which offer the same programme and have produced top medical specialists,” he said in reply to a question from M. Manogaran (DAP-Teluk Intan) in the Dewan Rakyat today.
To a supplementary question from Manogaran on the government’s efforts to regain the recognition, he said it was undertaking student exchange programmes with universities in the United Kingdom.
“For instance, we have such a programme with Queen’s University of Belfast for the purpose of transfer of credit, which can contribute to regaining the recognition.
“The effort has been recognised by a number of universities in the group of universities which cooperate with the GMC in EU and the Malaysian Medical Council.”
He said this would also provide an opportunity for universities in Malaysia which offered medical degree programmes to gain the recognition in future. — Bernama
