This one's for all budding dentists to be who are currently doing their BDS, DDS, LDS etc..and wish to come back to work in Malaysia. ( This applies to Malaysian citizens ONLY. Non Malaysians, ask and I'll post a different entry.. if I have the time and feel like doing so)
Well, I consider this as a service to the Malaysian dental community.
Someone named 'faez' posted a comment on my latest entry asking about working as a dentist in Malaysia. I hope this will answer your questions.
First and foremost, you must make sure that your degree is recognised by the Malaysian Dental Council. If it is not.. I don't see the point of you coming back. There are several types of registration and some requires you to be a trainee dentist first before you can fully register.
Well, I hope my past experience is still valid but this was what I had to go through , not so long ago.
I first headed to the Public Service Department to get a recognition letter for my DDS. If you are a scholarship holder, they will also hand you a letter saying how many years you have to serve the country or more popularly know as 'bond to the government'.
And then, together with the PSD letter and other documents like your original degree, translation of your degree if it is not in Malay or English , mykad,.. shoot.. I don't remember what else, ...?? Nevermind that, you can always call the MDC and ask. Well with the original documents, a copy of each documents which have been verified by any penghulu or government servants grade U41 and above , any govt dentist can do this for you, and postal order/money order of mm RM 150?? ( you have to reconfirm all these details later ok?), now you can go and register yourself as a dentist.
And of course you have to apply to work for the government through the Public Service Commission. You can also apply through the internet. Then , they will call you for interview. In my case, I called and asked for the nearest date available for interview.
Make sure you are well prepared for the interview. Some people think dentists are badly needed in the country they came to the interview unprepared. And guess what, they failed the interview.
That was the easy part.
Now please read carefully what I am about to write next. This is very important and please hammer all these facts into your head and never let it leave you or you will be in deep trouble.
Please be aware that dentists and dental practice in this country shall abide by certain rules and regulations. And one of the most important one for newly registered dentist is- the dental act 1971 with amendment in 2001 clearly stating that all dentists who are registered in Malaysia after June 2001 ( I don't remember the exact date) shall go through compulsory service for the period of 3 years, uninterrupted. Read: once you have registered, you must start service immediately and you can't break the service and serve the government continuously for 3 years unless you have a written permission from the Minister of Health. That also means that you can only pursue your post graduate studies AFTER the 3 years. And if you are granted unpaid leaves due to unavoidably strong reasons, your compulsory service term will be extended to the same year, months and days of the unpaid leaves that you take.
If you fail to abide by this rule, your name will be struck off from the register which means, by law, you can't practise in this country anymore. Well of course the MDC people will try their best to hunt you down and persuade you to finish you 3 years compulsory service. Oh yeah.. when I say compulsory service, that means you are to work for the Ministry of Health only. If you wish to work for other Government agencies like the armed forces or the universities, you will have to ask the permission of the Director General of Health first. Please do not blindly work at especially the universities without a written permission from the DG!
After you can accept the fact that you have to serve the government non stop for 3 years, now come the 2nd thing that you really have to pay attention to.
Posting.
I have been told by a reliable source that dental officers are being treated too nicely when it comes to first posting. According to the source, if it is a medical officer, she will not even be asked to name 3 states she that she prefers to be transfered too. They just post her to wherever there is a vacant post.
So, far, for dental officers, (dentists in the public service are called dental officers)
well, dental officers are usually asked to name 3 states that she hopes/wishes to be posted to. Her posting will be considered based on a lot of things.. priority is of course the necessity then the officer's welfare like family, health and so on so forth. But sometimes you just can't satisfy everybody. Somebody has to go and serve other states beside KL, Selangor, N9, Perak, Penang, Melaka & Johor. And if that somebody happens to be you, please... for god sake, just go! It's not like you are going to be there forever, you can always ask for a transfer later. And I think it is wise not to use politics and start pulling strings ( or the more famous malay phrase for it.. 'main cable') to get the place that you want. Imagine this, if everyone starts pulling.. then things won't move also right?
Just some points to ponder upon.
- A lot of public dentists are female
- Of those female dentists, a lot of them are married.
- Of those married female dentists, most of their husbands are working /staying in the Klang Valley.
Go figure.
Once you are posted, you are required to fill in some log books. We do not have housemanship but we have a First Year Dental Officer Programme or FYDO where you must do or observe certain procedures and get signatures from the supervising dental specialists. Usually, you will have to be attached to specialists available in your state on rotation basis,for the period of about one year.
The first 3 years might seem tough to some but once you have managed to go through it, then there are quite a lot of things the government can offer which the private do not have.
But of course there are lots and lots of things to consider before we make the next move.
But, no need to worry about that, finish the compulsory service first. Nothing beats the experience you get from the compulsory service, seriously.
Anyway I wish all of you guys all the best in your studies and don't forget to also have fun while doing so.
Life is not just about Dentistry and Dentistry alone.
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