Graduation to Housemanship (Malaysia) - Part 3

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Sooooooooooo, phewwwwwww.

WWW3 over with eHO! My God, the amount of dramas included in the eHO was crazy. The waiting since 10am in front of the laptops, the constant refreshing, the trolls, the 12pm clock strike and the rush of traffic into the website! Everything was pure insanity. Malaysia is the only place in the world with this kind of website race for a placement selection, just insane!!!

And up until today, I've heard many of my friends had problems with crashes, misplacements and emailing for resets of placements. Some were pushed to choose far away placements like Sibu, and etc. And the No. 1 hot selling cake was HTJ, Seremban of course! I'd imagine everyone in KL rushed to get a spot in Seremban 'cause its the nearest, the result of the compulsory thing they put on all Selangor/KL HO to work in non Klang Valley areas after 2 years of HO.

Okay, enough about the eHO thingy. Let's talk about how I feel right now.

Alhamdulillah, I managed to secure my target choice : HOSPITAL PAKAR SULTANAH FATIMAH (HPSF), MUAR, JOHOR! <3 p="">
So, since Tuesday, aftermath of the eHO wage of war, I've been feeling unsure of what I've picked. Either it's my inner-self doubt or just purely too much excitement, I just feel restless. Emotions running high, had to run here and there to get things done and some personal issues to deal with. :(

At the same time, I feel excited that I finally can officially do a Doctor's job and not just stand around and follow some useless and pointless ward rounds and clinics as medical student. And I promise to treat students as my future colleague! InshaaAllah :D

At this point, looking back. I realised there are a few important things that my medical school years had taught me about life :
1. Make great friends with both seniors and juniors, they are your FUTURE colleagues!
2. Make superb networking with every med school student you can meet, because you're going to be their colleagues.
3. Be kind to everybody because you don't know who will help you one day.
4. ENJOY med school because that is the only time you'll not worry about have responsibilities and other life stressors such as money and burdening assets (cars etc).

For the moment, I've been trying to search for a room/house to rent, but to no avail. Looks like houses in Muar are pretty scarce right now. Hopefully something will come up by next week. :/

Till then,
Dr. 'Aisha Ali
HPSF, Muar (soon) hehehe :D

Graduation to Housemanship (Malaysia) - Part 2

Assalamualaikum wbt.

As mentioned below (in my previous post), I will update once the next steps are in, and suprisingly, it was faster than usual waiting time. Thanks to the recent Bajet 2017 by our beloved PM (err).

So, received our SPA results as expected, mid November online. Waiting for it was agonising, it was only released at 5pm on 16th Nov officially. But, it's out anyways. The update was in SPA8i a day before the official results were out, and what it was just merely your No. simpanan amongst the 1315 applicants. The next day, the results could be checked on SPA's semakan keputusan temuduga.

This time around, the contract system is pioneered by this batch of Aug/Sept/Oct 2016 intake. We are as clueless as you are in this new system. Wished KKM/SPA are more transparent in delivering official statements and make us wait less, but ah it's the way the government bureaucracy is all these while. Redho jelah ye. :/

So, next week (22 Nov), the eHousemen2 will open and we are required to put in our choice of placement. Wish me luck in getting my desired spot! To Johor it is, Bangsa Johor to be! :P

The system is now changed, since we are employed by KKM instead of SPA now. So all issuance of employment is by KKM. The step of application is now a little different. We have to wait for eHO then print out the confirmed placement, only then bring it to MMC for the Sijil Pendaftaran Sementara. And as of KKM's BMD or some call is Senarai Semak (its the same thing for both), you can actually submit it using your previous Temporary MMC certificate and later just email them your new MMC sijil obtained. As far as I know, the BMD needs to be submitted before the PTM starts.

So, the PTM date is 5 December. Which is 2 weeks from now! I'm both excited and scared to imagine myself starting a new phase of life and finally taste the REAL MEDICAL DOCTOR life as dreamt. Whatever that comes, I shall embrace it military style, just swallow it like everybody else. Pleaseeeee pray that I'll go through these next 2 years with sabr and good intentions.

Till next time.
XOXO,
Dr. 'Aisha Ali

Graduation to Housemanship (Malaysia) - Part 1

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Holla! I'm back, after months (or years) of disappearance. Feels good to finally have some spare time to sit down and write again now. :)

So today, I'll be sharing about my timeline in transition of a medical school graduate to getting a Housemanship placement in Malaysia.

I graduated in mid-June 2016. Flew back to home grounds end of June 2016, and started my HO application journey early July (after Raya Aidilfitri).

Handed in the MMC application for the "Permohonan Sijil Pendaftaran Sementara" around mid-July and got it back 7 days later at 20th July 2016.

There and then I updated my MMC number in SPA8i under sijil ikhtisas or something and sent it! Please be reminded that you could open an account and fill in everything else even before you graduate, but SPA would only process it when you have your MMC number in it!

DO NOT DELAY sending in the online SPA8i application, I repeat DO NOT DELAY!!! The cut off point for the application was 26th/27th of July, so I heard. A few of my friends tendered it in later than those dates and had to wait for the next batch of SPA interview dates (Nov/Dec).

A month later (22nd August), notifications were sent out to inform people of their interview dates and details. I was scheduled for 11th of October. And Alhamdulillah, it went well yesterday for me! :D

I am too lazy to write up on my interview details, you can just google them and refer to these weblinks for document preparations :
eHousemen
How to Apply for HO - MMC KKM
How to Apply for HO - SPA interview
How to Apply for HO - eHouseman PTM

Next part would be updates on my SPA offer letter (within one month after the last interview date of this batch 14th Oct) and KKM submissions, might also include eHouseman applications and PTM. Stay tuned!

My approximate timeline of application :)

Good luck to whoever is reading this and applying for HO. ;)

Blessings happen in God's best timing

Assalamualaikum wbt.

7 years ago, I was clueless of what path of study to pursue into. I applied for a couple of scholarships right after the SPM results were out. Petronas left me thrilled when I was offer to attend their selection camp. But dad thought Mechanical Engineering wasn't the best fit for me. So next when JPA turned me down, a few months of foundation in PASUM blessed me with some great friendship that seem to last for life (InshaaAllah). MARA then offered me an AUCMS twinning programme in Medicine.

A year later on completion of my Pre-Medical studies, I was disappointed twice by the entrance interviews. So, I went ahead for an interview for MD UKM. It both flattered and saddened me when the Professors said, "we don't understand why you did not get through the entrance interview to Ireland, you are good enough to qualify for a spot to be fair ".(paraphrased) Eventually, I found out, my name was mistakenly confused on the list of interviewees that had passed.

Alhamdulillah, I did get to pursue my studies in Ireland regardless of those mini bumps. And today, after 5 years of mind opening, self-esteem polishing, and neuronal rewiring, here I am now, standing on the mythical grass of the Quad of NUI Galway, with a scroll that opens up a gate to a lifetime job as a medical practitioner and hopefully soon, a person that could bring little changes that the society needs. InshaaAllah. :)