Information needed

[Hnate]

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Greetings there , My name is nat and im from malaysia. Im going too pursue my studies in health science , medicine. Well , im supposed to go to romania this coming october BUT im still confused about lots of things. The reason i dont wanna do it in malaysia is because the chances of working abroad is slim. The reason for this topic post is to gain first hand information.

After graduating from Romania , how can i work in EU? are my chances high? For now i can only speak english and bahasa malaysia.

The reason i only mentioned about romania is because im not exposed to other part's of EU. I really want to do medicine but at the same time im worried that i'll end up jobless. I really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance. Cheers 🙂

 

[shreypete]

Hey there Nat,
Well we have a lot of Malaysians studying in my faculty (Charles University, Prague) but they're all sponsored by the Malaysian govt. so they do have to return to Malaysian upon completion of their studies. I don't know of any Malaysians who are actually paying the tuition fee by themselves.

Regarding future prospects of working as a doctor in EU after getting an EU medical degree...well I'll be honest. They're not that great unless you're an exceptional graduate and are fluent in the language of the country where you want to practice. If you're an EU citizen, this would definitely make things easier as you just have to know the language. You wouldn't have to take any exams (just an interview in the native language of that country.)

What you could do is perhaps specialize in Romania after being done with medicine and get Romanian citizenship. Meanwhile, while you're specializing, you could also learn the language of the country where you want to practice. If it's German, then you need to have a level corresponding to B1 (Zertifikat Deutsch); if it's Sweden, then they have their own exam for foreign doctors. Norway has the Bergens test and Netherlands has their own test too (along with the NT2 exam.)

So you have to make the choice as to where you want to work and then plan accordingly. There are ways of getting into a country without being a citizen, but they're not easy. You have to undergo a lot of testing and also have to get your degree evaluated.

For eg. in the Netherlands, you have to sit a 2 part test (the 1st part dealing with Dutch culture, language and health care system) and the 2nd part tests your medical knowledge (comprised of both written and practical parts.) Sweden, Norway and Germany also have something very similar. And all these tests are in those respective languages! So you can only stick to one country, learn one language and aim there (unless you're learning German - used in both Germany and Austria or Dutch spoken both in the Netherlands, and in Belgium)

France has different rules on the other hand. As long as you have an EU medical degree, you are good to go. They still have an entrance exam (for France, it's the ECN - Examen commisant national) and your rank in the exam determines your specialty. Again this is in French, so you have to have a very good knowledge of French. Spain and Portugal has very similar rules.

 

[Hnate]

Hey shreypete thanks for the reply. Haha yes in general most malaysian students do that. I dont really wanna practice back here. Wow there's a lot of procedure uh. Yea logically learning the desired country's language is a must. My mind is still clouded😕. Anyways is there other ways? like other parts of EU which i can work? Which country uses English as the first medium? Can i work there? UK is out of my mind , i heard its very hard to get in there.

 

[shreypete]

Ireland is the only other country where English is the official language and it's just as heard as getting into the UK. The chances are very bleak for international medical students (as Ireland produced more medical students per year than the number of residency spots available in the country.)

As of now, only Germany and Sweden are quite open as they're facing a huge doctor/nurse shortage. I think Norway is on the list too. However, all these countries have their own restrictions. Even though most of the Scandinavian speak impeccable English, there are still those who don't and the working language is still the native language.

So the worst part is that you have to spend anywhere from 1 1/2 - 3 years learning the language (and at the same time, revise all your medical knowledge) and then take the language proficiency exam. Once you make it through that, you pretty much are in (assuming you're an EU medical graduate.) Perhaps while you're taking language courses, you could enroll in some other courses in the healthcare field.