Medical education in Malaysia

Malaysia has a long history of medical education, with Singapore becoming the first medical school to serve the region after its foundation in 1905. The first school to be established in Kuala Lumpur after independence from the British was the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Malaya in 1963. Whilst today there are 21 public and private medical schools, all offering a 5 year undergraduate programme, some private schools have diversified by developing international collaboration and conduct twinning or credit-transfer programmes. All medical schools require accreditation by the National Accreditation Board and the Malaysian Medical Council. Although the criteria for accreditation is comprehensive and covers a broad range of areas of assessment, it is debatable whether it always matches the needs of the country. The dramatic increase in medical schools in the last two decades has posed challenges in terms of maintenance of quality, physical infrastructure and suitably qualified faculty.