More specialists in family medicine needed in Malaysia - Health DG

He said to address the problem, the ministry had embarked on various methods to increase the number of family medicine specialists to achieve the target of having at least one to three specialists for every health clinic.

"We need about 2,800 family medicine specialists, which is three specialists for every clinic, but for now we only have 336 and they are housed at 258 health clinics nationwide," he said after officiating the 20th Family Medicine Scientific conference here today.

He said among the methods implemented to increase the number of specialists was through a masters programme in family medicine, where between 80 to 90 doctors would be selected to undergo the four-year course.

"Apart from the masters programme, we also implement other alternative such as conducting an international examination such as FRACGP (Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) in Malaysia to increase the number of family medicine specialists," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the health ministry's primary focus was on family medicine specialists as they were the 'front liner' or 'gatekeeper' who played significant roles in the health of the community and society.

Meanwhile, when asked about the rabies outbreak, Dr Noor Hisham said thus far no new cases had been reported throughout the country.

He said only five rabies cases were detected in Serian, Sarawak involving five cases of dog bites in May.

"Our study reveals that rabies cases had originated from Kalimantan and Sulawesi, Indonesia," he said.

He also said the incubation period for rabies virus took a long time and rabies-free declaration would only be made if no new cases are reported within two years.