I refer to the letter 'Get lost' - that's the British for you by Disillusioned Doctor-To-Be.

I think it is the British government's right to protect their own citizens and to offer jobs to European Economic Area citizens rather than international medical students. This is in compliance with the EU agreement. Many Malaysians actually want to stay in the UK not for postgraduate training but for better paid jobs compared to Malaysia.

Many of them stay in the UK for as long as 12 years after completion of their studies just to earn the British pound (many are working as locum doctors). There is nothing wrong with that because it is their personal choice but the British government does not actually owe these international students any responsibility of job offers or a way to get back their study investment.

I do not entirely agree with the writer's statement that 'the developing world needs fully-trained doctors, not fresh young doctors. Many developing world nations also lack the capacity, or even the facilities, to train junior doctors'. Yes, this may be true in certain countries but certainly not in Malaysia which already has 16 medical schools and three public universities which offer various specialist courses. Some may argue that these Masters courses are limited in place but many of the public hospitals do train their trainees to take foreign exams such as the MRCP, MRCOG and MRCS.

Many Malaysian doctors have already proven themselves by passing these exams locally. Malaysia is one of the recognised training centres to hold these exams in this region. After all, how many of them actually come back after completion of their specialist qualifications? Many stay on as consultants and become a British permanent resident and set up family there. This whole issue is nothing about postgraduate training but of finance

What Malaysia lacks is sub-specialists such as cardiothoracic surgeons, haematologists, uro-gynaecologists, etc, or training opportunities for them. The Malaysian government should send more students to countries like the UK to train in these areas and not for basic medical degrees or even specialist qualifications. Local doctors, if given the opportunity for such sub-speciality training, are more likely to come back compared to those who train entirely in UK but eventually become consultants there. The health minister should not 'beg' the latter to come back to Malaysia (which they are unlikely to do so) but instead offer better sub-speciality training to local doctors or specialists.

I would urge that Malaysian stop going to the UK for basic medical courses because it is the most expensive and the quality of UK-trained doctors are not superior when compared to locally trained doctors. Those who wish to become doctors should do their basic degrees locally (public or private) followed by postgraduate qualifications locally before finally going for sub-specialist training in recognised overseas centres such as Singapore, Australia, the UK and the US.

I understand the frustration of medical students who are now unable to work in the UK for the British pound but this is exactly the move that I wish my government would make if the same situation arose - that is priority be given to local citizens. Imagine what Malaysian doctors would do if Malaysian medical postgraduate programmes were offered to Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani doctors.

The British government has not banned Asian doctors from working in the UK and the only sad thing for Malaysians is they probably need a longer time to recoup their investment. However, they can certainly become a specialist locally in Malaysia if they have a will.