THE Health Ministry)‘s decision to ease the minimum requirement of passing Bahasa Melayu at SPM level for Grade UD41 medical officers on contract will hamper nation-building, said Umno Overseas Club Alumni chairman Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan.

He said the decision could be misconstrued by the students to think it was acceptable to not be fluent in the language.

“We do not see the policy as a solution but rather could cause a bigger problem.

“The ministry’s policy is not in line with nation-building efforts,”  he said at a press conference today.

He said the policy could be disruptive as doctors should be able to communicate with their patients in Bahasa Malaysia.

He urged the ministry to review the policy.

“There should be a platform or roundtable discussion with non-governmental organisations like ours and we are ready to provide solutions.

The ministry had defended its decision to relax the minimum pass-requirement in Bahasa Melayu at SPM level to give opportunities to medical graduates to have a housemanship even without sitting for their SPM examination.

The move was to facilitate medical graduates who had studied overseas, who sat for the O-level examination at an international school or took the subject only in university. – July 3, 2017.