Kaplan Free Live Online Event (March 7th)

This event is entitled “Inside the Step 2 CS” and will be conducted by Dr. Brenda Affinati, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and Kaplan’s most popular CS instructor.

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, March 7th

Time: 12:00 (Noon) GMT

Topic: “Inside The Step 2 CS (Clinical Skills) Exam”

Description: Dr. Brenda Affinati, Kaplan Medical CS Instructor and the Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Illinois College of Medicine will outline the CS and the upcoming test changes as well as review each of the exam components and teach you key strategies which will ensure you pass the CS.

Registration Link: http://bit.ly/step2cs

(registration must be completed at least 36 hours in advance).

This event is especially important for any students who are interested in preparing for the CS exam in the near future because not only be offering free expert advice that will students pass the CS exam whether they take it now or after the exam change in May but we will also be promoting our upcoming Live Online CS Prep class we have scheduled for students in Asia. Below is the information on our upcoming Live Online CS class.

As you’ll see this class is relatively inexpensive and allows students to prepare for the CS while in their home country with the Dr. Affinati, one of the best instructors in our live CS class here in the US.

Live Online CS Class Description

http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2cs.html?tb=live-online

Dates: March 19^th – March 22^nd

Time: 12 (noon) GMT to 3 pm GMT (evening in Asia)

Price: $700 (if student decides after attending this course that they would like to take our live course in the US we will apply the tuition student has already paid towards the price of the US course, meaning they essentially attended our on line course for free!)

Journey through Pediatrics

INVITATION TO THE CONTINUOUS MEDICAL EDUCATION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS 2012.

On behalf of Putra Medical Club and Society of Malaysian Medical Association-Medical Students (SMMAMS), we would like to extend the invitation to your university to grace us with your presence in the Continuous Medical Education of Medical Students 2012.

The details of the events are as follow:

Theme : Journey through Pediatrics

Date : 18^th February 2012 (Saturday)

Time : 8.00 am till 5.00 pm

Venue : Main Lecture Hall, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UPM.

Each university is welcome to send 15 participants. We would feel privileged to host you for this event and hope to hear from you by 15th February 2012. Please do impart to us the details of the participants on the form attached and send via email.

Please notify us if you are interested in sending more than 15 participants as this would allow us to accommodate you accordingly. Do feel free to contact us if there is any doubt pertaining to the event.

Lastly, we look forward to seeing you in this event. We extend our gratitude in advance for your cooperation and support.

Yours sincerely,

JAYANTHI SELVAM

(Director of CME 2012)

Avicenna Inter-medical Varsity Debate and Sports

Avicenna Inter-medical Varsity Debate and Sports is back!
Hey everyone! As mentioned above, there will be an intervarsity debate and sports
championship only for medical students. Details as provided by the organising party (University
of Malaya) is as below:

Date: 25th February 2012 ( Saturday )
Time: 7am - 7pm
Venue: 6th Residential College (Kolej Kediaman Ibnu Sina), University of Malaya

1. Debate
- 3 participants per team, maximum 2 teams per university/college
- Registration fee: RM60 per team

2. Netball
- 10 participants per team, maximum 2 teams per university/college
- Registration fee: RM 200 per team.
- Category: female only

3. Futsal
- 8 participants per team, maximum 2 teams per university/college,
- Registration fee: RM 160 per team.
- Category: male only

Forms and official letter have been sent to respective university's dean office and Student
Representative Council. It can also be obtained from our Facebook group: https://
www.facebook.com/groups/223380061079549/ . Do join our Facebook group for more details
and updates! Invite your friends to join the fun too!

Closing date for registration: 6 February 2012 (Friday). So be fast!

All participation forms MUST be faxed to 03-79567306 directed to NG JIUN HOONG
before 6th of February 2012. You can also email your completed participation form to
avicenna.debate.sports2012@groups.facebook.com or touch.the.sky93@gmail.com.

Any inquiries, please contact Ng Jiun Hong (Project Director) 0123883182.

Poster at: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=10150568116439805&set=a.138001609804.111038.755189804&type=1&theater

Get private sector doctors to teach

WITH reference to “MMC to be corporatised” on the front page of The Sun Daily (Jan 25), as chairman of the Society of Medical Students, MMA and on behalf of Malaysian medical students, I welcome the news and hope that an amendment to the Medical Act 1971 to corporatise the Malaysian Medical Council will be passed. As the ones who will be working in the midst of the resultant outcome of policy decisions today, we hope the amendment will result in a better professional body that monitors the quality of healthcare and medical education as independently as possible from individual interest or government bureaucracy. In moving towards developed nation status, the corporatisation will hopefully result in a body as effective in maintaining standards of healthcare as those in first world countries such as the General Medical Council of the UK.

We also welcome the news from Health Ministry director-general Datuk Seri Hasan Abdul Rahman that the list of recognised universities is to be shortened and reviewed more frequently to maintain standards. We hope that once the amendment is passed, issues similar to this that involve the accreditation of medical schools will be decided more independently. Although the issue of the houseman glut has quietened down, there is always the issue of a glut in medical officers to look into. With the increasing number of housemen and limited spaces for postgraduate study to become a specialist, this will be an issue that we as medical students today will face in the future. There are currently 35 medical institutions producing undergraduates, but only three produce postgraduates – UKM, UM and USM. We hope the MMC will look into this issue.

As a student, my ideas might be naïve, but may I suggest that the government with the support of the MMC start encouraging the private sector to be involved in postgraduate medical education. As the Economic Transformation Programme announced by the prime minister places the private sector in a vital role to transform the economy, medical education should follow suit. The private sector has more than enough resources in terms of the numerous private hospitals and doctors that far outnumber those in public service. In terms of teachability of doctors, as a student in one of the top public universities in Malaysia, I have seen very talented lecturers going out to private practice for better pay in order to support their families. The teaching spirit is still in their hearts, but as per the Malay saying “jangan monyet di hutan disusukan, anak di rumah mati kelaparan”, they would of course prioritise supporting their families over teaching. Not given the chance to teach, that spirit might slowly die away, which would be a waste of the country’s talent. I am sure that given the chance, many doctors in the private sector would be willing to teach postgraduate students.

I believe successful people succeed because they do what interests them and what they are passionate about. With the limited number of spaces to pursue medical specialties, many would have to choose a specialty not because they are interested in it, but because it is the only one available. If the private sector can fill this increasing demand, better productivity in terms of healthcare awaits the nation as doctors give their all and produce better research in areas that interest them. Adam Smith changed the economy by recognising the benefits of specialisation of labour in the production process. The same goes for healthcare.

In the end, as in many first world countries, healthcare, research and education would have to go hand in hand – as is practised by world class private medical institutions like John Hopkins and Mayo Clinic in the US. To reach developed nation status, both the private and public sectors must play their part in nation building.

As medical students, we are unable to be directly involved in policy making, but we hope our views are taken into consideration and our voices of concern heard. We wish the best for the future of our healthcare and medical education, so that one day when we become a part of the system, we can proudly tell the world “I am a Malaysian doctor”.

Lutfi Fadil Lokman

Chairman

Society of Medical Students, MMA