Page 29 - The Dental Workforce in Malaysia

Introduction | 11

are also sent to universities in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong
to promote versatility and diversity in the profession (Ministry of Higher
Education Malaysia, 2010). Currently, due to the country’s financial
restrictions, overseas training is sponsored only for sub-specialities, PhD
and sabbatical leave.
In the meantime, the MOH allocated about 38 scholarships to its staff
in 2016, for both local and international training (Oral Health Programme
Malaysia, 2018). The MOH also offers scholarships for tertiary dental
education for its staff to fulfil the needs for more complex oral care (Oral
Health Division Malaysia, 2013a). Once specialists have completed their
training, they will be placed at one-stop centres that provide tertiary-
level oral healthcare. These newly graduated specialists will undergo a
probation period under the supervision of senior specialists or consultants
to ensure they are competent enough to practise in an area of speciality
before being allocated to the appropriate service centre and to receive an
upgraded salary (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2010). Besides
the MOH, both the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Dental
Corps provide their own funding to send their trainees for postgraduate
training. The allocation is 40 dentists for MOHE and 5 dentists for the
Dental Corps.
Thus, there is an opportunity for career development for young
dentists in regard to places and funding, however it is limited and the rate
of opportunity is not the same as the rate of growth of the dentists.

Table 1.1: Volume of new dental registrants across 16 local institutions
in both public and private schools from 2011-2018.

Year of graduation
Year
No Schools Sectors
established 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
University of
1 1972 Public 64 79 83 75 75 70 65 55
Malaya, (UM)
The National
2 University of 1997 Public 45 76 51 42 35 71 52 50
Malaysia, (UKM)
Science University
3 1998 Public 40 42 54 74 50 46 60 46
of Malaysia (USM)
AIMST Dental
4 2005 Private 43 49 52 62 73 72 77 70
Hospital
Penang International
5 Dental College, 2006 Private 35 52 73 28 73 75 75 76
(PIDC)