KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18: After several attempts to urge Health Ministry to give the recognition to the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) went fruitless, a group comprised of Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and social network users have decided to take their anger to the street to put more pressure on the ministry.
The event was created in a Facebook, with the title "Peaceful gathering to get CSMU recognition" in order to trigger the Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam to recognise the medical college, located at Ukraine, without wasting more time.
Its organiser A. Elangovan, who is the Malaysian Indian Education Transformation Association (MIETA) chairman, told The Malaysian Times (TMT) that it would be a peaceful protest, which is scheduled on January 26 at Brickfields.
"This is a battle towards opening up an avenue for affordable and quality medical education," he said.
"This is not a political protest. It is for our poor children's future," he said.
By 10.30 am, the event has respondent over 149 Facebook users and the number to join the protest is believed to be increasing, according to Elangovan.
The initiated protest has gone viral on the social medias with its users sharing pictures with the wordings "Recognise CSMU.
CSMU DILEMMA
The CSMU started to enrol students from Malaysia in August 2001.
However, it was derecognised in 2005 by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) as the medical college did not meet the requirements set by the board.
But, on October 9, 2013, the CSMU has agreed to make the changes to meet the conditions set by the body, in its reply to MMC's fax, underlining the areas of concern to be addressed before re-appealing for its recognition.
The fight to get the approval for CSMU has been going on for the past eight years as the fees is lesser compared to other medical colleges, which opens path for students with poor financial background to obtain a medical degree.
The university charges RM110, 000, while other colleges will cost RM300, 000 up to a million.
Despite the derecognition many aspiring students, with poor financial strength, lost an institute to do medicine with a cheaper cost.
The situation worsen when it became an obstacle for a girl named J. Hiranya Dhevi, from Kedah, to do study in the institute without any financial burden.
As reported earlier by TMT, CSMU chancellor Professor A. A. Babanin has offered the 20-year-old girl a free medical seat in the university.
Unfortunately, Hiranya is unable to accept the golden chance as the institute was not sanctioned by the Malaysian government.
It was a sad situation when the girl was earlier offered to do livestock science in a local public university although she has straight A's in SPM, 4.0 CGPA in Matriculation and with a Malaysian University English Test (MUET) full 4 band.
Hiranya is the daughter of a single mother with a household income of RM600.
Her gloomy condition triggered many critics towards the Health Ministry and MMC due to CSMU's derecognition.
TMT also reported that the CSMU has decided to provide one free medical seat in the university for poor student to pursue their higher studies.
Prior to that, Dr Subra, who is also the MIC deputy president, had announced that CSMU will get its recognition back.
However, the verbal promise made by the Health Minister, on November 11, after a meet with Elangovan, is yet to come in action.
Elangovan hoped that the soon to be held protest would be an eye-opener for Dr Subra on the importance of giving back the recognition to CSMU. – TMT
