My recent attachment in the medical ward has caused me to question the curriculum of the medical school in University Malaya. I still remember my clinical years in Canada where the 3rd and 4th(final) year medical students were thrown into the ward full time, where they will join the medical team on duty. From trivial blood taking to the management of real patients in the hospitals, the medical students will be fully involved. Medical students clerk the cases, the intern or houseman would double check before informing the medical officer in the team who will in turn inform the specialist. Medical students would do on call duties with the houseman/intern and medical officer/resident on duty.

In my short duration at University Malaya Medical Centre so far, I hardly see medical students in the ward on the team. Even the students who are assigned to take blood samples, do not turn up regularly. This is surprising when UMMC is supposedly a training university hospital. No medical students are in sight during most of the rounds that are done. None are assigned to be on call. This is surprising when Internal Medicine should be one of the major rotations, yet no medical students are in sight. This is indeed a worrisome trend and point to a possible deteriorating quality of new graduates.

The occasional students that turn up would look lost as no team is assigned to them. Some even would approach us begging for cases to be seen. The bottomline is that University Hospital looks nothing like a teaching hospital. I only hope that University Malaya is not living based on past glories. Their medical students need more involvement in ward work and teachings on the job rather than lectures and tutorials which will not enrich one's experience in medicine.