Deputy Health Minister Hilmi Yahaya said among the major reasons for the delay was the rising number of local and foreign graduates.

“Currently, (there are) only 10,362 housemanship placements for medical officers while for dentistry graduates, it depends on the capacity and preparation of equipment and dental chairs,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this in reply to a question from Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) regarding the number of graduates still waiting to do their housemanship.

Dr Hilmi said the placement of pharmacists was based on a ratio of one supervisor to four pharmacy graduates.

Dr Hilmi said the placement also depended on their choice of placing and the vacancies of the post.

He said 3,775 graduates had been placed at government hospitals for their housemanship.

Of the total, 2,800 were medical graduates, dentistry (6,587) and pharmacy (1,250), he added.

In 2014, the ministry launched ‘e-Housemen’ to expedite the processing of housemanship applications.