Similar to applying for a houseman position with KKM, those who returned from overseas (after serving houseman-ship) will go through the same procedure as our fellow local med graduates entering the workforce.
Stepwise approach
- Apply through http://www.spa.gov.my –> Sistem SPA8i
- Tick tock tick tock……it took me a good 8 months before receiving an email notifying that my turn for ‘houseman’ placement has arrived.
- Create a new account at https://ehousemen.moh.gov.my/auth/main and make sure that you be right up at the second the system opens. Rmb, fastest fingersssss hey! Click on the hospital of your preferred choice.
- Waiting to attend PTM (Program Transformasi Minda). There are quite a bit of things to do prior to PTM (from my vagues memory) e.g. getting your health check up, some justice of peace signature, going to LHDN (lembaga hasil dalam negeri) for stamping so do not leave it till the last minute (which I am guilty of).
- Hospital orientation for a few days and your journey as a medical officer (albeit initially selected as PEGAWAI PERUBATAN UD 41) in KKM officially starts. Be prepared to be thrown to any department that is most understaffed. I was lucky that I already knew what I wanted and sat for the basic science entrance exam, met the department HOD and got a support letter so it didn’t take me much trouble to get through our hospital admin and thank god that my department was severely understaffed (with 7 MOs running the dep)…..so I got into a very specialised niche. And i never looked back.
Program Transformasi Minda (PTM)
This was a 3 days overnight stay where the Ministry of Health (MOH/KKM) welcomes and prepares the newly minted medical graduates. It involves ALOT of talks and an exam at the end. With preparation and a few reading materials (circulated amongst well-resourced newbies), most if not all will pass so that should be the least of our worries.
The Good
- Team building – Met a lot of keen beans and bright/creative young kids of around 1993-1994 and was truly inspired by their happy and jovial nature while we work on projects such as a skit at the end of 3 days
- Good food (not necessarily healthy though) – we were well fed, like 5x a day. Momsy just said ” Welcome back to Malaysia, they feed you well right from breakfast –> tea –> lunch –> evening tea –> dinner” And all at the cost of you taxpayers oops
The Not-so good
- The contents of some delivery were honestly out of date and irrelevant – e.g. no hair dyes / strict clothing etc. Your girl here aint a fashionista and have never ever dyed her hair. My clothes are super proper if not almost boring and dull but having someone to tell me what to wear as an adult just irks me. Please treat us as adults and I need nobody to tick me off on my outward appearance. That’s the reversed culture shock I received after spending a good 7-8 years in the land down under with zero surveillance and the freedom to look at pretty women walking down the street….oops I mean down the hospital aisles. 😀 So, it’s high time for our administration to establish rules and regulations via ‘restrictions’ & ‘penalties’, we are no longer under colonial times, time to move forward and treat everyone as responsible adults. One’s hairstyles or clothing does not determine his or her skills in delivering professional service to patients who are in need.
Doctor on FIRE 
Hello Dr. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have found your post. I am also in a similar position now applying for MO in Malaysia as an IMG having done internship abroad and docked at the SPA stage of the process currently. I am from West Malaysia and interested in going to the East for MO. Do you have any insights you would be willing to offer regarding selection of hospital? And please elaborate on how you managed to get a placement in the department of your choice? And how did you convert the offer letter for Housemanship into one for a medical officer posting? Thank you I would so so appreciate it if you could help me with these doubts.
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