The NOC is mandatory for all students seeking admission to medical colleges to ensure they meet the minimum standards for studying medicine.

Currently, some overseas medical colleges ignore the need for the NOC and this has caused concern over the quality of doctors and graduates applying for housemanship.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said the problem now was that the Malaysian Qualifications Agency could not enforce the requirement.

“So we must find a way to enforce that requirement,” he said when asked on the ministry’s discussions with the Public Service Department (JPA) on tightening rules for housemanship training.

He said unless the requirement could be enforced, people would not be afraid of non-compliance.

One way, Subramaniam said was to include it as a condition of employment after graduation.

Subramaniam, who was speaking at a press conference, said this way if someone did not have the NOC, he or she would not be able to undergo their training at government hospitals.

“Then it becomes enforceable so the whole chain becomes logical.”

He said once JPA agreed with this condition, the government would announce it and it will be a few years before the ruling takes effect.

Recently, the Malaysian Medical Council called for more stringent entry requirements for medical courses to address the deteriorating standards of graduates from a number of foreign universities.