Applying for a Medical Job in Malaysia (for overseas graduates)

Assalammualaikum!

As an overseas medical graduate, it was very hard for me to actually understand the procedure to apply for a job in Malaysia.
For students from local medical schools, the school will usually do most of the things for them.
The interviewers even came to the school to interview them in batches.
For overseas graduates, I'm sorry to say, your life ain't gonna be that simple.
You need to everything on your own...

So, let me share with you the steps I took the apply for the job.
I hope this will be beneficial for future medical graduates, and from my experience, many years later, someone will email me asking how did I first apply for the job. By then, I would have forgotten all these!
I'd better type them down now.

STEP #1 - Apply for a place in SPA

SPA stands for Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam.
This is the first stage of applying to be a government servant.

The online application form can be found here.
The link might change a few years from now, but just go to SPA Portal and look out for "Pendaftaran Pekerjaan dalam Perkhidmatan Awam".

What they need in the online application:
1) Personal details (obviously!)

2) Academic Results (I had to key in my PMR results but for some reason they already have my SPM results automatically. I wonder if it was because I am a JPA sponsored student?)
I am not sure where to place my A-Levels results since there does not seem to be place for it.

3) Extra Curricular Activities (meh campak la segala jawatan dulu kt sini. Setiausaha kelab la, Bendahari rumah sukan etc etc)

After you submit the application, remember to save the pdf confirmation!
This is because MMC requires the pdf confirmation. If you do not save it now, you will have to resubmit the application and your application date will be the date you re-submit it.
Get what I meant? Means even though you completed and submitted the form on 1st June but you did not save the pdf confirmation, then if you realised you needed the pdf confirmation and pressed submit again on the 20th of June, your application date will now be 20th of June.

STEP #2 - Apply for Provisional Registration with the MMC

[Source: Blog Orang]

MMC stands for Malaysian Medical Council.
Just like we have to have the P driving license for two years and have the big red P sticker on our cars at all time for the two years, we also need to apply for a P medical practitioner license from the MMC.
During these two years, you MUST work in a training hospital certified by the KKM i.e. certain government hospitals as a House Officer (HO). Once the 2yrs is over, the private hospital can now hire you; a fully licensed medical practitioner.

To apply for this provisional license, go to the MMC website.
On top of the page, you will see a "Download (Forms)" tab, clicking that will bring you to a list of forms provided by the MMC, in English and Malay.
Choose the
"Provisional Registration" form. If you just click on my link above, you will get the form directly.

The form has a checklist ready for you, that will make your life a lot easier.
You will need to send:

1) A completed form (with the Appendix A)

2) A certified copy of your degree certificate or dean's letter.
I finished my hospital placement on May 16th but my graduation is on July 8th. That means I can only start applying after my graduation.
I was afraid that it will be too late because my friends in local medical schools started applying even earlier. Hence I requested for a dean's letter from the school administration; to say that I am a student there, have completed my course and will graduate on the 8th of July.

The problem I had with this one was that my name on the dean's letter and my name on my IC were different! You want to know what was the difference?
It was a real silly one.

My name in the dean's letter contained no "binti" but my IC has "binti".
For example, my dean's letter stated "Akmar Ali" but my IC stated "Akmar binti Ali".

So when MMC received my application, the person in charge emailed me stating they could not process my application.
I had to go to the Commisioner of Oath to say that "Akmar Ali" and "Akmar binti Ali" are the same person.

Lawak la, kt Malaysia pun ada masalah camni ke? I've never had this problem kt UK pun, even when my passport wrote binti but my flight ticket did not.
So make sure your name on the letter and in your IC are EXACTLY THE SAME. =.="

3) Results Transcript
4) And many other straight forward documents lah. Malas nk tulis kt sini haha.

You can either post the forms to MMC, or just go to their office in Jalan Cenderasari to submit the forms.
I will strongly advise you to go personally.

After posting the application, you may need to keep calling MMC to ask if they have received your application.
And if you decided to post, please please use the PosLaju.

I posted my applications, but decided to go and submit my oath statement personally.
After waiting about an hour there, the girl gave me my temporary letter.
The MMC registration system was not working for the past 2 months hence they could not provide us the provisional registration certificate.
They can only give us a temporary letter, but that will be sufficient for SPA interview.

STEP #3 - Call the SPA

Now, you have already registered with the MMC.
Next step is to tell SPA that you are already registered.
I did not know this step.

It was quite a long time after my registration that I found out I have to call SPA to let them know =.="
I called and called their hotline to ask what to do next but no one answered the phone.
Eventually Kiew filled in the e-Pertanyaan form on SPA portal, and she received a reply within an hour.
They gave her the direct number for the Unit Perubatan; it is 03 - lapan lapan lapan 563 satu 3 =p

You will be asked for your IC number and only then will they put you in the interview waiting list.

I called them on Aug 6th, and was told that I will be called for interview somewhere in Sept or October.
But a few days ago they called me asking me to come to the SPA interview on Sept 3rd! That's next week~
Weee~

STEP #4 - The SPA Interview

OK, at the time of writing, I have not reached this stage yet.
My interview will be next week, exactly 7 days from now.

I've asked around and found out that dengue is a must know, we need to know some things about Ebola (or any other current issues) too.
Know the government policies e.g. What does "Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan" or "1Malaysia" mean.
You can read about them in 1Malaysia portal.
I've not read them yet so I can't explain them to you yet.

For those you don't know, Malaysia's clinical guidelines are called CPG (Clinical Practice Guideline).
The dengue CPG is very comprehensive and if you can remember the facts from there, you should be fine.
I ought to read them again, I forgot about them already. I used to read them whenever I felt bored in Hospital Serdang during my electives 5 months ago.

STEP #5 - Register with KKM
KKM (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia) / MOH (Ministry of Health)

Go to the KKM Portal, and look for "Muat Turun Borang".

Find the "Borang Maklumat Diri (BMD)" under the heading "Pengamal Perubatan".
Download the BMD for Pegawai Perubatan Tetap.

I hyperlinked this blog post to all the mentioned forms but in case the link changes in the future, I've also written the step-by-step guide.

In this BMD form, you will need to fill in three placement choices. Only THREE hospitals, in any state.
There is a list of training hospitals provided at the end of the form.
We can only work in these training hospitals.

I plan to submit my forms straight to the KKM office in Putrajaya after my interview next week.
I think we can post it, but I'd rather hand it in personally.

STEP #6 - Just wait, I suppose?

As far as I am concerned, registering with KKM is our last step to apply for the job.
KKM will then send us a "Surat Panggilan" to a specific hospital.

I've asked the SPA staff how long will it be roughly from interview to the start of the placement, he said it'll be around two months.
So yes, I may have two more months to tanam anggur kt belakang rumah, haha.

With that, all the best!

p/s: I am going to create a new tag for this post, called "Profession". Hihi..
After this, whatever I write about my job will be under this tag, not "Medical Student" anymore.

-Because life is a test-

-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com