Kok says it again: Kamalanathan must apologise

The Seputeh MP calls for full release of facts and figures on public university intake of medical students.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP vice-chairperson Teresa Kok today reiterated her call for Deputy Education Minister P.Kamalanathan to apologise to the public for “making a false claim” that the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) requested a reduction in intakes of medical students to public universities.

In a media statement, Kok also said the “public are entitled to ask if there have been intentional moves to try to avoid giving the accurate and full facts to them.”

The MP from Seputeh was responding to Health Minister S. Subramaniam’s denial that MMC had any role in the annual reductions of intake since academic year 2011/2012.

Figures disclosed by Subramaniam showed that 1,550 places for medical students had been allocated to 11 public universities but only 919 had been filled so far. Referring to this, Kok asked, “Why have they decided to only accept 919 students? Since the question of qualified applicants does not arise as many top scorers have complained of not being offered the medical programmes, could fund shortage or lack of staff be the issue?”

Kok called on Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to “show transparency and reveal the full facts and figures” on the intake of medical students by public universities.

Another DAP MP, Teo Nie Ching, said in a separate statement that increasing the intake numbers alone would not solve Malaysia’s lack of properly trained medical professionals.

“We need to ensure the students have adequate training at a later stage,” she said