Intern Doctors, Hepatitis C



DEPUTY Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said houseman training hospitals will open up more slots for housemanship.

“At the moment, we have a total of 10,835 housemen in 44 teaching hospitals and Royal Military Hospitals nationwide."

“The ministry plans to include Hospital Shah Alam and Hospital Langkawi in the list of houseman training hospitals. These hospitals have stated that they are willing to increase the number of training slots for housemen.”

Dr Hilmi added that the Public Service Commission had interviewed 3,474 medical graduates as at December 2016, with 1,687 of them already placed in hospitals.

On the issue of too many medical graduates in Malaysia, he said the existing moratorium on new medical programmes at tertiary education institutions would restore balance in demand and supply.

“Under the moratorium, we have been able to ensure there will be no more new medical courses on top of the 44 programmes already in place locally,” he said.

“However, we cannot stop potential students from enrolling in the 335 accredited tertiary institutions overseas,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry is preparing a working paper for approval to import generic drugs for the treatment of Hepatitis C.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said this was to import sofosbuvir which was much cheaper compared to sofosbuvir innovator. He said the estimated cost to treat Hepatitis C using sofosbuvir in combination with other medications could reach up to RM300,000 per patient.

“Due to the high cost, the ministry has been looking into ways to increase access for Hepatitis C treatment in Malaysia. One way to get cheaper sofosbuvir is by using government rights where Malaysia gets to import the generic medicine at a cheaper price,” he said.

Dr Subramaniam said since 2003 until last December, a total of 20,023 Hepatitis C cases were reported. Last year, he said, 3,393 new cases were reported with a notification rate of 8.58 for every 100,000 people.

/theSTAR 15-03-2017

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

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Mercer's 2017: Quality of Living Rankings



Kuala Lumpur has been ranked the second best city in South-East Asia in Mercer's 2017 Quality of Living rankings, with Johor Baru in third place.

The annual survey by consulting firm Mercer, used by multinational companies to design expatriate packages, ranked Kuala Lumpur as second for the city with the best quality of life in South-East Asia, with a global ranking of 86 out of 231 cities surveyed.

In terms of Asian cities, Kuala Lumpur is ranked at No. 10, while Johor Baru, which is 103rd globally, is ranked at No. 14.

The Quality of Living survey looked at 10 categories including political and social environment, economic environment, natural environment, housing, health services, and education.

According to Mercer's 19th annual Quality of Living survey, Singapore is the best Southeast Asian city in terms of quality of living and has a global rank of 25.

Other key South-East Asian cities in the Quality of Living survey include Bangkok, which ranked fourth in the region and 131 globally, Manila (ranked fifth in South-East Asia and 135 globally, and Jakarta in sixth place, with a global rank of 143.

Other notable cities in Asia include Hong Kong (ranked 71 globally), Seoul (76), Taipei (85), Shanghai (102) and Beijing (119).

Five Japanese cities, meanwhile, top the ranking for East Asia. These are Tokyo (ranked 47 globally), Kobe (50), Yokohama (51), Osaka (60), and Nagoya (63).

Despite increased political and financial volatility in Europe, many of its cities offer the world's highest quality of living and remain attractive destinations for expanding business operations and sending expatriates on assignment.

Vienna in Austria took the global number one ranking for the eighth year running.

Other European cities like Zurich (ranked 2 globally), Munich (4), Dusseldorf (6), Geneva (8) and Basel (10) also secured top positions in the survey.

The only non-European cities in the Top 10 are Auckland (ranked 3 globally) and Vancouver (5).

Mercer’s survey also includes a city infrastructure ranking that assesses each city’s supply of electricity, drinking water, telephone and mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion and the range of international flights available from local airports.

Singapore tops the city infrastructure ranking, followed by Frankfurt and Munich, both in second place.

  /theSTAR 15-03-2017
 
Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

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