2022: Trip to Malaysia, contract issues and migration ………It has been 8 months since I wrote my last article, the conclusion of my post-Wawasan 2020 series. The year 2022 started with relaxation of border rules in many countries. Being in Western Australia (WA), which had one of the toughest border rules in the world, we were happy that the border was going to […]
It has been 8 months since I wrote my last article, the conclusion of my post-Wawasan 2020 series. The year 2022 started with relaxation of border rules in many countries. Being in Western Australia (WA), which had one of the toughest border rules in the world, we were happy that the border was going to open on 5th of February 2022. Unfortunately, 2 weeks before the date, the WA government decided to postpone the date indefinitely due to rise of Omicron cases all over the world and a new target was set for booster doses before the border opens. I had to postpone my flight that I had already booked for end of February 2022.
By mid-February 2022, the WA government announced that the border will open on 5th of March 2022. However, Malaysia still had a 5-day quarantine rule for those vaccinated. We decided to delay our first trip back to Malaysia in over 2 years, to May 2022, just in time to celebrate Raya in Malaysia. Thank fully, by then, not only the quarantine rule was removed for those vaccinated but also the pre departure PCR test. Thus, on 4th of May 2022, me and my wife stepped our feet onto Singapore Airlines Boeing 787 for the first time in more than 2 years!
It was a smooth flight to KL via transit in Changi airport. Changi airport will always be the best airport I have ever been. This is also the first time since 2014 that I am landing in KLIA. Since I lived in JB, I had always used Changi airport for my international flights. The “Malaysia Boleh” phenomenon hit my face the moment I landed in KLIA! Welcome to Malaysia! We walked towards the Aerotrain upon landing only to see the entire area was cordoned off without any signage to guide us where to go. There was a lady sitting inside the cordoned area but too busy looking at her handphone. All of us were wondering where to go till one of them “woke up” the phone lady and asked her! She pointed the direction to the bus terminal. It was a long walk from there with stairs going down, right at the end, after which you will see the bus waiting. Took the bus to the main terminal where our bags were waiting. The immigration clearance was the fastest as we used auto gate. Then came the custom screening.
1 scanning machine for the entire crowd! Everyone had to que up to scan our luggage, one by one. No green lane. As we finally exited out to the arrival hall, we were looking for the car rental booths. None to be seen! We had already booked the car online, but we could not see any booths or even any signage to direct us to the car rental area. My wife frantically went around asking people who were working at the arrival hall (money changers etc), none seem to be aware! Finally, I found a small signage on the right side of the arrival hall, you can only see it if you pay close attention on small wordings. It took us almost 10-15min of walk out of the terminal, sweating till my entire shirt was drenched like I just got wet in the rain! The efficiency of the car rental company was at another level. It took them almost 30-40min to give us the car. Of all the airports I have ever been (mostly developed countries), I have never seen the car rental booth being situated 10-15 mins walk from the arrival hall into another building. Most will be situated in the arrival hall, and you can collect the keys within 15 min.
Finally, we made it to the highway, heading north to my wife’s place. Cars speeding, motorbikes all over the place brought back my memories. No one follows the rule. Back to my Malaysia. Somehow, I felt the lawlessness has gotten worst. Grabfood and Foodpanda riders don’t seem to care about road rules. Even traffic lights can’t stop them. My 30 years’ experience driving in Malaysia was reactivated. As suggested by my friends, we bought a dashcam before coming to Malaysia. Getting a Touch N Go card was another nightmare. None seem to be in stock and thus we had to use our good old IC as our touch N Go card while we searched around. Finally, we got one from Watson in my wife’s hometown. Along the road, one thing was obvious to us. The maintenance culture has gotten worst. Maintenance of roads, buildings, public infrastructure etc was down the drain. I had always wondered how a tourist would feel when they arrive in Malaysia.
Overall, we had a wonderful time with our family and friends, whoever we had time to visit. From Perak to KL to Seremban to Melaka and finally to JB. Malaysia is always the best place for food! Something we always crave for when we return to Malaysia. Shopping and buying cloths that we are familiar with, is another heaven. Unfortunately, the politics in Malaysia never changes and has turned to the worst. I can clearly see that election is coming very soon. Whenever racial and religious rhetoric goes overdrive, we know election is coming. I can see more people have become poorer. Currency value is dropping day by day. The last I heard 1SGD is now RM 3.20. 1USD is about RM 4.50. The lower the currency falls, the poorer the people will become. After being in Australia for 3 years, I can see how the value of our currency is very important. The stronger the value of the dollar, the lower the cost of living. We left Malaysia after spending 24 days, on 27/05/2022.
I received many emails from young doctors asking for advice to migrate, especially after reading my last article. Unfortunately, as I had always said, medicine is the worst profession to be when it comes to migration/moving around. Unless your degree is recognised in the country you are intending to migrate, you need to sit and pass the entrance exam with no guarantee that you will get a job. It is an investment with a possibility of not getting any return. The border closure in Australia resulted in work force shortage in many fields. Covid pandemic also resulted in many states increasing their pool of doctors by creating more post. Unfortunately, they could not fill up this post as borders were closed. Not all local graduates like to work in hospital setting. Many IMG (International Medical Graduates) who were already in Australia manage to get these jobs if they had AMC Part 1. Most of them have been in Australia for years, some even citizens and PRs. Once the border opened, many IMGs with AMC Part 1 were also recruited from overseas. These are all mainly for MO and service registrar position.
My regional hospital advertised for 3 new senior registrar post. There were 15 applications, none from locals/Australia! All were from overseas and almost all of them only had AMC Part 1. They were senior doctors from their country of origin with at least more than 10-20 years of experience. Most of the applications were from India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Turkey and Egypt. It is a risk that you will need to take as the Limited registration will only be given for a maximum of 5 years. By then you must either pass the AMC Part 2 or complete the WBA (12 months ward-based assessment) program in an accredited hospital. Because of this, the hospital can only provide you with a yearly contract. Those who are recruited as GP with just AMC Part 1 have another option of completing your RACGP program to be awarded FRACGP within the 5 years period.
It is a tough life for many of them who come for greener pastures. Some of them were paediatricians, anaesthetist, psychiatrist, surgeons, neonatologist, gastroenterologist back in their home country but willing to sacrifice everything to start from scratch. Even then, there is no guarantee that their contract will be renewed year after year. The more regional you are, the better the chance of getting a renewed contract.
Thus, this is what I advised those who intend to migrate with a medical degree which is not recognised in Australia. Be prepared to start from scratch with no certainty. You must take a gamble. Some may succeed and some don’t. That’s why you will hear some coming back home, not necessarily due to family reason, but they fail to get a job or training post to become a specialist. Be prepared to go to rural and remote areas to get a job.
With the increasing number of queries that I am receiving about migration, I can feel the pain the people on the ground are going through. The contract issue, while has been extended to about 10 years to complete your specialisation, it is very clear that the government will never be able to absorb everyone into permanent civil service. I had written about these many times before. Thus, it is not unusual for MMC to reduce the compulsory service to 1 year. So, now you can leave the service after a total of 3 years (2 years HO and 1 year MO). In fact, even before the announcement by the DG, for the past 3 years MMC has been approving exemption, usually if you have completed 18 months post housemanship. Even JPA has made an announcement that JPA scholars who are under contract since 2016 can break the bond and leave civil service. It is a way of saying “get lost”! But who created this mass in the first place! As for me, this is an inadequate training for any doctor to be able to practise medicine independently after 3 years. With no proper training system in place for GPs etc, we probably giving them a “license to kill”…………………
Oh Gosh, didn’t I predict all these were coming ………………………….
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2022: Trip to Malaysia, contract issues and migration ………
