KUALA LUMPUR - Private medical colleges should increase the number of postgraduate medical programmes to commensurate with the increasing number of medical graduates in the country, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin.

He said it would ensure more specialists are produced to help improve the health service industry in the country.

“Most of the universities which offered Medical Postgraduate Studies are public universities.

“Private medical schools which offer such programmes would need to have the costs of admissions and trainings considered, but the cost must be fair to both the training providers and the trainees,” he said when opening a seminar on Postgraduate Medical Education in Malaysia recently.

His speech text was delivered by Deputy Director-General, Private Higher Education Management Datin Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir in the presence of Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) President, Dr S R Manalan and Health Deputy Director General Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.

Khaled said, while non-clinical postgraduate programmes are already being conducted by private medical colleges, it was time for clinical postgraduate programmes to be introduced.

Meanwhile, Dr Manalan said there are about 8,000 specialists registered with the MMA until 2012.

“Currently, there are about 35,000 medical officers and specialist registered with MMA. By 2017, we are expecting about 70,000 to 75,000 doctors to cover the increasing population of this country.

“To achieve this, more training centres like private hospitals and health centres should be provided to produce more doctors and medical officers,” he said.