PETALING JAYA: Students from poorer backgrounds interested in pursuing medicine, dentistry and pharmacy will face a big barrier to their ambition if the Public Service Department (JPA) were to end sponsorships for these courses.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must make good on his word that JPA sponsorships for the programmes would continue, former scholars said.
One of them who only wanted to be known as Dr Zulaikha, 30, said she would never have become a doctor if it was not for her scholarship.
She said the Prime Minister’s assurance that the scholarships would continue must be followed by action and hoped that he would make good on his promise.
“My father was a policeman and I worked hard to qualify for a JPA sponsorship.
“Without it, I wouldn’t be a doctor now because my family could not afford to pay for my studies,” said Dr Zulaikha, who is now working at a public hospital in the Klang Valley.
She said the government must reverse its decision, adding that many prospective students from B40 households such as hers would miss out on joining the medical field if JPA were to stop the scholarships.
She said options such as PTPTN loans or bank loans were not better alternatives.
“It’s true that they won’t have to serve the bond but they will be saddled with huge debts once they graduate,” she said.
Another former JPA scholar who only wanted to be known as Dr Azlan, 30, who is serving at a public hospital in Kedah, said most JPA scholars were from the Bumiputera community and many would not be able to pursue medicine without the scholarships.
Dr Azlan, who is the son of a hawker, said the door of opportunities should remain open for deserving B40 students to pursue medicine, dentistry and pharmacy courses.
“Without the JPA scholarship, medicine will be a field only accessible by the ultra rich.
“Even though the fees to study medicine at public universities are lower than private universities, many cannot afford them.
“Borrowing from PTPTN means students will have a mountain of debts once they graduate and the starting pay of a houseman is not that high either,” he said.
