The international fame of Malaysia’s healthcare sector is relatively still unknown.
BENEATH the fabric of Malaysia’s economy, flows the relatively unknown international fame of Malaysia’s healthcare sector.
This is evidenced by the arrival of healthcare travellers from around the South-East Asian region as soon as Malaysia’s borders reopened on April 1. These travellers have been waiting for two years to seek treatment in Malaysia's hospitals.
The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council reports that the travellers – primarily from Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Australia – seek treatment in Malaysia relating to cardiology, fertility, orthopaedics and oncology, among others.
Before the pandemic, in 2019 this sub-sector raked in RM1.9bil. However, this factors in only the paper trail of the medical bills of healthcare travellers. The total retail and auxiliary spending of the travellers and their caregivers plus family members cannot be traced.
For young Malaysians, both school-leavers and tertiary students, it is a matter of importance because it means that young minds with an interest in healthcare will find strong economic footing with which to pursue their passion.
This is why UOW Malaysia College has hospital wards built in. Healthcare students there spend a lot of time in the college's “wards”.
"It de-sensitises them from the clinical seriousness of working in a hospital, where they will have the duty of nursing patients back to good health," said UOW Malaysia College School of Nursing and Allied Health head Magesvari Subramaniam.
The college offers quality health care programmes and is based in UOW Malaysia College's campus in Utropolis Glenmarie.
The college is grounded on UOW Malaysia's campus in Utropolis Glenmarie, Shah Alam. It was formerly known as Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare College, and has been training healthcare students since 1995.
The college now offers quality health care programmes such as Diploma in Nursing, Diploma in Physiotherapy, Diploma in Healthcare Services and Diploma in Medical Assistant.
There will be a small fiduciary benefit for some of the students, especially those pursuing the Diploma in Nursing.
"To excel in nursing, the students must spend a lot of time in practical training at hospitals. During this time, they will receive an allowance of RM500 to RM650 a month from hospitals that sponsor them," Magesvari said.
She stressed that there is such a high demand for nursing experts in the healthcare sector that nursing students stand a high chance of gaining a full sponsorship.
"Private hospitals are willing to spend more than RM50,000 to sponsor nursing students. It ensures that they will have fresh intakes of highly trained nurses, while students are assured of well-paid jobs the moment they graduate," she explained.
Registered nurses also regularly return to the campus for post-basic training in renal, perioperative, critical care and oncology nursing.
Registered nurses, she said, also regularly return to the campus to receive post-basic training in renal, perioperative, critical care and oncology nursing.
"Usually, these nurses receive post basic training under sponsorships from their hospitals, and after receiving all this, they qualify to obtain a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing," she added.
Healthcare students who are not bonded into sponsorships, on the other hand, have the full capabilities of UOW Malaysia College's ties with Australia.
“Students can start their diploma programmes at UOW Malaysia College, then continue their undergraduate studies in Malaysia or at the University of Wollongong (UOW) campuses in Australia, Dubai or Hong Kong,” said Magesvari.
She added that a wealth of undergraduate studies related to the healthcare field awaits students in the transnational campuses of UOW.
Before the pandemic, UOW entered into a strategic partnership with KDU and brought world-class education to Malaysia.
UOW is a public university in the city of Wollongong, about an hour's drive from Sydney, Australia.
Being ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide, UOW harnesses academic resources that cross world borders to ensure that its international student population benefit from a truly global exposure.
For more in-depth details on UOW Malaysia College's Nursing and Allied Health studies, call 03-7953 6690 or 012-236 3602 (local enquiries).
