The lack of places in Malaysian public universities to read medicine still remains a problem - even as 15 more places have been offered this year. While these additional 15 places bring the total number of places offered to 925, it is certain that many a student will have to resort to private (e.g. IMU) and overseas universities.

The question is: How many students will have to take that path? No figures on this have been released by the Higher Education Ministry - with only repeated statements that a CGPA of 4.0 no longer guarantees a place to read medicine given the introduction of co-curricular involvement as a criterion for varsity intake.

Well, this just means that the HQs of the various political parties will have some “extra” work to do, more academically strong students will have to abandon their dream of becoming doctors, and Malaysia’s doctor to patient ratio will remain unsatisfactory, right?