More breathing room for housemen
Rotations tailored according to hospitals' needs, says Health Ministry
PETALING JAYA: More flexibility will now be given for the rotations of house officers where postings will be done based on a hospital's internal manpower needs.
This comes after a review by the Health Ministry on housemanship postings.
According to a ministry circular dated July 25 signed by Health director-general Datuk Mahathar Abd Wahab, the Medical Qualifying Committee had decided that the postings will be done in accordance to the needs of hospitals.
The order comes into immediate effect.
House officers are required to finish six postings over two years. This includes rotations in compulsory departments, namely general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, paediatrics, orthopaedic surgery and emergency medicine.
An earlier circular dated Feb 18 earmarked the first year of training for general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and internal medicine.
However, the latest circular states that for the three postings in the first year, trainee doctors will have to be posted at obstetrics and gynaecology, and either general surgery or orthopaedics.
The third posting would be either for paediatrics or internal medicine.
The hospital, too, has the flexibility to determine the order of posting based on its needs.
For the second year, when the doctors become junior medical officers, they will be posted to the emergency medicine department and any department that they have not been rotated to in the first year.
'In order to ensure effective coordination, all housemanship directors are responsible for determining the rotation of posting for each housemen according to the distribution and training needs in the department.'
According to the circular, the Housemanship Programme Committee at the hospital level also needs to play a role in ensuring the housemen posting rotation is practical, innovative, and suitable so that the distribution of housemen in each department does not burden any particular department.
The ministry had reviewed an earlier proposal issued in February where house officers will undergo surgical, medical, obstetrics and gynaecology in the first year and orthopaedics, paediatrics and emergency medicine in the second year.
The ministry had also studied the efficacy of the move.
'Given that the dynamic nature of the numbers (of house officers) and how the positions are filled, the ministry had reviewed the posting rotations,' it said.
The Star reported on Feb 21 that the six rotations were proposed in preparation of reducing the housemanship training from two years to one year.
Rotations of house officers to the anaesthesiology, psychiatric and primary care units would also be stopped temporarily.
On Feb 24, the ministry explained that its proposal to shorten housemanship from two years to one was intended to improve efficiency and productivity.
The house officers training was increased to two years in 2008 due to an increase in medical graduates at that time.
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