BELGAUM, INDIA, 26 June 2015 – The pioneer batch of graduates from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) - Karnataka Lingayat Education (KLE), India International Medical Programme will consist of 48 medical doctors of international standard who possess greater maturity due to their international exposure.

This was stated by the Dean of the School of Medical Sciences (PPSP) USM, Professor Dr Ahmad Sukari Halim who had just chaired the school’s Exam Board meeting here to endorse the final examination results of the USM-KLE International Medical Programme.

“The very experienced medical teaching faculty provided by the KLE Society of India, coupled with state of the art infrastructure helped enhance the students’ understanding and practical experience,” added Ahmad Sukari.

“The external examiners from both India and Malaysia concurred that the students were highly skilled at patients’ history taking as a result of the excellent training received from the experienced faculty.

“Besides the knowledge imparted by the teaching faculty, the students have also benefited from the facilities provided by both the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) which has over 50 years experience in training medical doctors as well as the Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital.

“Alhamdulillah, the final results achieved by this pioneer batch of 48 students have been very encouraging and Insyallah they will be graduating this November after which they will return to serve in Malaysia as dedicated professionals, and can all be considered as ‘safe doctors’,” said Ahmad Sukari.

“It is my hope that they will elevate USM’s name to greater heights and use the experience gained overseas to serve their patients and Malaysians in general,” said Ahmad Sukari who has been the Dean of PPSP since 2013.

First introduced during academic session 2010/2011, the current enrolment of the USM-KLE International Medical Programme stands at 450 medical students comprised of first to fifth years.

The students are all placed at the Karnataka campus in Belgaum which boasts various medical teaching facilities such as sufficient supply of cadavers (15), 3 complete Multi-Disciplinary Labs (MDL), a Problem Based Learning (PBL) lab and a Skills Lab besides recreational facilities including a stadium and Olympic-sized swimming pool, and well equipped hostel accommodation complete with broadband access.

USM-KLE Deputy Dean Professor Dr Kamaruddin Jaalam stated that the students also participate in co-curricular activities such as sports, photography, dancing, singing and so on.

“Our doctors are multi-talented individuals outside the classroom; for instance some of them can play musical instruments and have won talent competitions all over India,” said Kamaruddin who is like a father to the USM-KLE students.

“As the Deputy Dean I must ensure that the medical programme adheres to the curriculum and syllabus of PPSP in the Kubang Kerian Kelantan Medical Campus,” he emphasised.

“We are fortunate to have a team that is very committed and supportive in every aspect, not only among the higher management but also the support staff,” said Kamaruddin who is fluent in the local language, Kannada.

“To date we have successfully achieved the requisite standard; however there will always be room for improvement.

“Nevertheless, our USM-KLE offshore International Medical Programme is now a reference point for several parties interested to emulate the USM-KLE model which we have been running for the past five years,” he concluded. - Translation: Dr Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah/Text: Nor Rafizah Md. Zain / Photo: Dzulfikar Azmi Mohamad Aripin @ Isa