No talks with UiTM to open its doors to resolve cardiothoracic surgery student woes

Higher education minister Senator Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir has confirmed that there has been no talks regarding the notion of opening Universiti Teknologi Mara’s cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme to non – Bumiputera students.

This is because there are some underlying issues. He however, did not delve into those issues.

“We haven’t engaged in any discussions yet, nor have we received official communication on this matter,” he said, Berita Harian reported.

“It is crucial to resolve the fundamental issues before delving into such proposals.”

Health news portal CodeBlue had reported that UiTM was willing to temporarily accept non-Bumiputera trainees from parallel pathway programmes into its cardiothoracic surgery course.

The suggestion for UiTM came as it received provisional recognition from Malaysian Qualifications Agency in 2020 to train medical students as cardiothoracic surgeons.

Controversy erupted recently with the Malaysian Medical Council declining to include parallel pathway program graduates in the National Special Register.

This resulted in four cardiothoracic surgeons qualified from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, alongside six graduates from Universiti Sains Malaysia, have filed a lawsuit against MMC.