Too many nurses in Malaysia
According to a report in News Straits Times as below,
THE Higher Education ministry has increased the basic intake requirements for nursing students, the house was told yesterday.
Its deputy minister, Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung (BN-Kluang), said after meetings with stakeholders, the ministry last year upgraded the basic requirements for nursing courses from three credits to five in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
“We received many complaints and feedback on nursing graduates who failed to secure jobs after completing their studies due to oversupply.
“Hence, to ensure we are producing high standard nurses and to solve the oversupply problem, the Malaysian NursesAssociation had suggested that only students with minimum five credits in SPM are qualified to take up nursing.”
He said stern action would also be taken against higher learning institutions that did not comply with the intake requirements.
He said four institutes were fined for taking in students who did not fulfil the basic requirements for the nursing courses offered.
The four institutes were Institut Teknologi Lanjutan Sarawak which was fined RM60,000, Lincoln University College (RM40,000), Kolej Seri Manjung (RM30,000) and International College of Health Sciences (RM10,000).
He said the number of students admitted for nursing at the diploma level had decreased since the new requirement had been implemented.
Last year, the number of students enrolling in nursing courses was 7,841 while in 2010, a total of 10,025 students were enrolled.
He said last year, a total of 14, 866 students were enrolled for diploma level courses at private institutions of higher learning in the field of nursing, laboratory technology (4,491 students), physiotherapy (1,829) and healthcare (695).
He was replying to a question by Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (PSM-Sungai Siput) on the number of students enrolling for diploma level courses in the field of nursing, laboratory technology, physiotherapy and healthcare last year.
News Straits Times, March 17, 2012.
This is a case of students just following the “in” thing and going into nursing because everyone was going for it. Students must make informed choices so that when they graduate they are able to find jobs. In addition, just because an institution takes you in with your bad grades, is not the way out. Employers are not stupid, when you graduate without the necessary skills and knowledge, you will not be able to secure a job. There are no shortcuts in life.
