Medical Graduates from Russia - When gov't scholarships are mismanaged... by Weasley

Medical Graduates from Russia When gov't scholarships are mismanaged by Weasley | May 26, 09 4:24pm I am a medical student from Russia as well. Best part is, I or rather we, did not choose to come here. We are all scholars sent here by either JPA or MARA. If you were to Google "Moscow Medical Academy" it is ranked by UNESCO as the second best medical university in the world.. Do not be fooled by this because I was one who was fooled as well. Only after I landed in Moscow did I know that the "2nd best in the world" is specifically granted to the Russian medium of this medical school. We, Malaysians, are doing the English medium and I must say it's an utter shame that the government actually spent millions of tax payers money to send us all here to study medicine. The teaching facilities or methods of the English medium here is way below par, way below that of a third world country even. Some classrooms here even resemble the ones we have in our 'kampungs' in rural areas such as those in Sabah and Sarawak (thank you so much for sending us here all the way to Moscow to experience this!). For your information, this so-called Moscow Medical Academy does not even have a campus to begin with. Classes are scattered all over Moscow. We students are forced to travel everyday via Metro, or by foot, or bus to attend classes. Also, there are times when we would have travelled so far to attend classes, and upon arrival at school, only to be told that classed are cancelled. The Malaysian government could have spent the money more wisely to educate us in Malaysia, Singapore or India. We get paid almost USD700 per month, which I believe is a huge amount of taxpayers money. However, I doubt we will bring back much knowledge to be able to help the patients back home. While there are some of us who save and spend the money wisely due to the high cost of living here, there are a huge majority of private and sponsored students who come here just to enjoy. Frequent parties, weekend getaways, world tours, and shopping sprees are common among students here. The lifestyle of many Malaysians change tremendously once they came here. They behave even worse than the "Mat Sallehs" here.. Malaysian girls here, for instance, would walk around ever so skimpily leaving nothing to the imagination (even during winter!). Whatever happened to the Malaysian culture? Many here have even lost their virginity at the tender age of 18 or 19 simply because a guy or girl can walk in ever so easily into the rooms of the opposite sex. Many Malaysian medical students behave as though they have no self dignity. However, they portray the best behaviour once they land in Malaysia as though they are the best Malaysian angels. Sadly, we all know their true colours when they are here in Moscow. Hypocrites! These Malaysians are surely to be huge dissapointments to their families as well to the nation. Exams and studies are the least priority for the many who are here. I wonder why did some people choose to study medicine in the very first place. Let me also give u an insight of the education system here. You want to know why the majority of Russian grads are so incompetent and useless? Well, first and foremost, we can get away with cheating ever so easily during exams. You may ask how. Many students here aren't bothered about being honest for themselves. Many just merely do the bare minimum of studying and copied their friend's answers or directly from the books during the exams. These students fail to realise that they are only cheating themselves. The one who helps with the cheating is also going to lose out in the end once he/she is out of medic school and into the work world. Another method which works really well for the girls is simply to shed some crocodile tears during exams and instantly the lecturer would grant her a mere pass. How is this fair to students like me who slog day and night, mugging and studying extremely hard with the simple intention of graduating as a competent doctor? After all, these cheaters would be graduating with a MD certificate and would turn out to be the bad apples in the healthcare system in Malaysia. Thus, leading senior doctors to generalise and say that all Russian grads are incompetent. Does anyone have any idea how frustrating this is? Many students who sit for exams earlier would simply snap a photo of the different sets of questions and answers to be distributed to the rest of the students who have yet to sit for their exams. How is this helping anyone? Can you even call this an exam? Does it fit the definition of an exam? So, can you imagine what kind of doctors we're producing here? A bunch of cheaters, liars, and irresponsible future doctors! No wonder countries like the UK refuse to accept Russian medical grads for their postgraduate courses. Simply because we have never even sat for a proper exam per say throughout our six years of study here. Look at the UK universities/colleges. Do they even allow any student of theirs to bring in PDAs, camera handphones, bags, and books into the exam venue? Do they allow any exam candidate to communicate with another candidate once the question paper has been distributed? Do students know the exact questions and answers prior to the exams? Hell no! These only happen in Russia. So, wake up people. To those of you who are planning to send your offsprings to Russia for a medical degree, please, I'm begging you, think again. You're not only going to lose your money, but also perhaps the good name and dignity of your family. This is merely an opinion of mine and not directed to insult, degrade or humiliate anyone. I believe there is nothing wrong in sharing my opinion. DISCLAIMER (DQ): I'm not at all sure of the authenticity of this letter writer to the malaysiakini online, in 2009 ad just forwarded to me recently. (?) However, it is a good eye-opner for those who would wish to go to unorthodox medial schools. For the hundreds if not thousands of medical graduates out there from Russia, perhaps you can dispute this experience. I personally know of quite a few graduates who are making very good progress when back here for medical internship. I know that it is an especially long slog having to re-study quite a lot to cope and keep up... But please speak up so that the authorities and the med school agents can listen!