Hey y’all!
It’s November and I’m already in that Christmassy mood~ Current status: Still
unemployed but occupied. There are a few things that I’ve yet to accomplish in
my “long” break. Taking baby steps~
The good
news is, I am officially a registered dentist with the MDC! (and I like my
registration number a lot) After a very long wait of 2 months, we finally got
our transcript in early October. It was really nice to visit FOD again, meeting
the lecturers and bubbly juniors, but there was a sense of foreignness. It’s
like I don’t belong there anymore. Sigh~
Honestly, I
miss Melaka town. I miss how convenient everything was, how McD was 5 minutes’
drive away, how you do not need to cross big highways to get to the major
shopping malls, how I feel more at ease driving without car tailgating me and
of course, the church and the people there.
Though initially
my intention for this blog was to share my BDS experience with those who are
interest to apply to MMMC, but I think the life after BDS is still in a fog for
some and it won’t hurt to continue writing to clear some doubt for those who
are going to graduate soon. In this post, I shall focus on writing about my
experience on the registration with MDC.
Our transcript
took about 2 months to be process. We should have been able to collect it
earlier but there were some minor problems with the grading and so they needed
more time to verify and amend. Our admin coordinator, Mdm Sudha then helped us
booked the appointment with the Malaysian Dental Council. My batch had to split
into 2 groups as they can only attend to maximum 30 people a day. You can also
opt to phone them yourself to set an appointment on the day you wish. Once you
have made the appointment, make sure you get ready all the necessary documents as
listed in the MDC webpage. Missing out on one document or its certification is
enough to bar you from getting registered as happened to few of my batch mates.
I choose to
go on the second date that was given; on 20th October 2015. The appointment
was set at 9am in the Cyberjaya office. We were all gathered in a meeting room.
There were a few sets of documents and booklets placed in front of us. Two
administrative staff then briefed us about the registration procedure and
helped us in arranging the required documents.
After everything was piled up neatly
inside our individual folders (which carries our assigned registration number),
an administrative officer came in to talk to us about MDC, the rules and regulations
after becoming registered and then signed off the documents for us. She
reminded us that registering with the MDC is not mandatory but if you want to
practice dentistry in Malaysia, it is a must. Once you are registered with the
MDC, you are tied to the Dental Act 1971. It is also compulsory to serve the government
(Khidmat Wajib) for a year. Within that year, you are not allowed to take
unpaid leave. If you do so, the days that you have served before would not be
counted and your one year Khidmat Wajib will start all over again. If you go
MIA, they would issue 3 warning letters after which your photo would be published
all over the webpage of MDC as well as in the newspaper for several days. FYDO
(First Year Dental Officer) are also not allowed to apply from locum-ship. You can
only apply starting from the second year onwards. If you were caught working as
a locum during your FYDO year, you can be sued and deregister from MDC. After completion
of the one year service, you can choose to continue with the goverment or
resign and join the private sector or further your studies. We were also
briefed about the online portal dpims, annual practicing certificate and CPD
points. The whole registration procedure took about 3 hours.
After MDC
registration, we have to hand in the BMD (Borang Maklumat Diri) form and MDC acknowledgement
letter to the Ministry of Health office in Putrajaya. In that BDM form, we were
required to submit 3 states of our preference for the compulsory service along
with reasoning in Bahasa Malaysia. Luckily for me, my friend, Christine warned
about this and I had a night to think it over with my parents. It was really
disaster when I first try to write out the reasons in Bahasa. Jewel and Vino
were laughing hysterically while I read out the reasons one after another.
Thank God for the invention of Google Translate. I better practice conversing
in BM now or I will definitely screw up the SPA interview later.
Parking was
hard to find around the Ministry of Health building. We have to personally find
our way to the Unit Pengurusan & Professional in MoH to submit the
documents. Basically we have to place the documents in a prepared “pigeon-hole”
and that’s it. There was nobody to neither verify the document nor attend to
you. You can choose to submit your documents to the MoH the same day as your
MDC registration or you can take your time to think about it and come back
another day.
Once back
home, we have update our online SPA application with our registration number
and patiently wait for their notice for interview.
So that’s
it. I will come back to update once I have proceeded to the next step. Wish me
luck!
Ps:
Honestly, day by day I can feel that my learned knowledge and skills are gradually leaching
away. Sob~
