Students who joined the private medical college in the northern region with the dream of graduating as a doctor and to serve the citizen have been affected terribly by the current woes. To attain their dreams they achieved excellent results and convinced their parents and sponsors to finance their study, in consequence of limited seats in public medical colleges.

However, what they got in the bargain is very saddening. The college underwent a dire financial crisis and hardly any action was taken by any relevant ministries, which further worsened the college’s condition. The college administrators kept promising the students and parents that the issue would be resolved and the college will return to its fame and former glory. Sadly, there were no changes.

As time passed by, the staff members and students came to the verge of attending classes by the roadside and sleeping on the pavement as the classrooms were closed, hostels were sealed, there were no administrative staff to run the show and no IT facilities.

Then the relevant ministry came to rescue the students. Several meetings were held with the students and college administrative staff to sort out the issue. In the meantime, students were left demoralised, depressed and disappointed for no fault of theirs.

Finally, after the matter was highlighted by the media and parents, the ministry came up with a solution of transferring all the students to various other private colleges for which they were supposed to sort out all issues with the involved agencies such as the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), sponsor bodies, private universities (IPTS), etc.

The relevant authorities further arranged two open days for meeting between various IPTS, parents and students. The students were then given the names of the colleges to join and were even called up by the respective colleges for admission and some even held informal orientations and also were informed of the date to begin classes.

Students and parents were relieved that at least now they would be able to study in peace despite being demoted due to syllabus matching, although most colleges supposedly should have a similar type of syllabus.

Unfortunately, within few days, students were left in a limbo again. There were changes in plan due to no proper agreement between the two relevant ministries in view of quota distribution for a few specific medical colleges. Students and parents were overwhelmed by disappointment again and felt that they were being kicked around like a ball.

I am writing this on behalf of many parents and students who are undergoing so much of struggle and mental agony apparently for no fault of theirs. Is this the price that they have to pay ? I hope that no student or parents should undergo this physical, mental and financial trauma in the future.