MUCH has been said in the press about the oversupply of doctors. But is that truly the case? Till today Malaysia has not reached the ideal doctor to patient ratio, 1:400. Currently, the ratio seems to stand at 1:625 (based on the Health Ministry’s 2017 data of 1.6:1,000).

In practical terms, if we have an oversupply of doctors, why do people still have to travel by foot and boat and on treacherous journeys just to get to a hospital in the interior of states like Sabah and Sarawak? Try telling those people about the oversupply of doctors and they will gladly ask for doctors to be sent to their villages.