Amid concerns of an oversupply of doctors and insufficient postings, The Star quoted the ministry’s deputy director-general, S Jeyaindran, as saying that graduates of local universities would wait an average of only three months before being posted.

Expressing shock at the statement, the houseman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said it was “utter nonsense”. She said she had to wait 11 months before getting an offer.

“I actually just got posted and am very lucky but my friends are still waiting for a job,” she told FMT.

In an interview last year, when she had freshly graduated, she complained that the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) new ranking system for housemen candidates was unfair. She said the questions asked at interviews were not standardised and candidates were not told their interview marks.

She said she got into the latest batch of intakes apparently because she was ranked among the top 1,400 out of more than 3,000 candidates. “The rest would have to wait their turn.”

She said medical graduates of three local universities conducted a survey after the intake list was released and found that only about 50% of graduates from each university were absorbed into the system.

“The ones that didn’t get posted called up the PSC to ask why. After multiple phone calls, the PSC finally admitted that the management might have made random choices instead of going by ranking.”

She said there were graduates from Universiti Malaya who waited 11 months, graduates from Perdana University who waited 12 months, graduates from Universiti Sains Malaysia and the International Medical University who waited eight months, and graduates from Mahsa University who waited nine months.

“These are all facts,” she said. “Half of each university’s graduates are still waiting for a job offer.”

Housemanship applicants asked about Korean dramas, says medical graduate