Bitter Pill for Pharmacy Grads
13th,Feb.,2012
PETALING JAYA: It is not just nurses who are finding it hard to get job placement in public
However, unlike the job shortage for nurses, which was blamed on oversupply and not meeting market demands, pharmacy graduates believe that their applications for placement were unsuccessful due to issues connected with the New Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).
Pharmacy graduates have to serve a mandatory training placement at public hospitals before they can obtain a practising licence.
The Health Ministry’s previous requirement was a one-year training and three-year attachment stint in public hospitals.
Last October, the three-year attachment condition was slashed to one. Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said the SBPA should not have any effect on the intake of pharmacy graduates for training purposes.
“This cannot be happening. They shouldn’t be treated like that and I sympathise with their plight,” he said, adding that he would raise the matter with ministry officials.
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