<b>CAMPUS WATCH:</b> Rising intake of student nurses

SEGi College Malaysia is expanding its intake of students for its nursing programme, which started two years ago, from its first batch of 40 to 1,500. SEGi College Dean of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Dr Wong Wai Hun said this recently in Petaling Jaya at the launch of SEGi College Pharmacy, Dental and Nursing Centre and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SEGi College and Tropicana Medical Centre Life Sciences Bhd (TMC) in conjunction with its Nurses Day celebration.

"At the moment we can handle up to 800 student nurses. We are in the process of recruiting staff and will increase our student intake later in the year," he says.

Regulated by the Nursing Board, the intake numbers granted to SEGi College is 1,500 student nurses, provided the teaching staff is at an adequate level. The first batch of 40 student nurses is expected to graduate next year.

"After three years there will be 4,000 student nurses on board if the quota is met," he adds. Furthermore, the college will be enrolling 40 pharmacy students for its intake this September.

A typical programme in Pharmacy at SEGi College takes four years. As it is a twinning programme, SEGi Pharmacy students will undertake two years locally and thereafter they may be transferred to the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom to complete their degree.

"We will be taking 40 students this year and 50 students next year. The intake of Pharmacy students in Malaysia is regulated by the Pharmacy Board of Malaysia and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain."

Under a five-year period MOU signed between SEGi College and TMC, Pharmacy and nursing students at SEGi College will be able to use adjacent facilities at TMC for their practical training.

TMC would select nursing and Pharmacy graduates from SEGi College for employment. The hospital has also targeted 60 nursing students to be sent for training which starts next month at SEGi College.

"TMC will benefit through continuous professional development and enjoy a tuition fee rebate for six TMC Group-sponsored students per annum," says Deputy Minister of Health Abdul Latiff Ahmad, who witnessed the MOU signing ceremony.

The hospital targets its patients from around the world for their medical treatment. "We have treated patients from 42 countries from every continent in the world. The main countries are Indonesia, Singapore, India, China, Japan and Australia.

"We expect the number of patients coming from overseas to be significant," says Dr Colin Lee, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and TMC managing director. He was a signatory to the MOU.

TMC offers medical services in more than 50 specialist disciplines including fertility treatment, women and children's healthcare, cardiology, diabetes, endocrinology, aesthetics, orthopaedics, haematology and interventional radiology.

It also intends to conduct advance stem cell therapy applications, research and clinical trials.

"We have some collaborations at various stages with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, a letter of intent has been signed with University of Malaya and we are working on a foreign company," adds Dr Lee.

CAMPUS WATCH: Rising intake of student nurses