Overview of Malaysia pharmacy application process

Since I have stepped into the career world of Pharmacy, I thought it would be beneficial if I can share some of my knowledge and experiences to those who might walk the same path as me.

In Malaysia, upon graduation of Pharmacy courses, we have to serve the government for at least 1 year (2013), which is also the so-called provisionally-registered pharmacist (PRP) year. After that year only we can be FRP (fully-registered pharmacist).

So what did I go through in order to get a place of work in government hospital? First of all, I need to apply through spa.gov.my for applying a government job. At the same time, I need to register myself to Lembaga Farmasi Malaysia (LFM). There will be some form to be filled in and posted to LFM, along with some documents showing that u graduated from whichever university. For the SPA cases, after applying online, we need to call to the SPA centre itself in order to ask them to book an interview date for us (otherwise it might take ages for them to get back to you). They will normally call u back to inform u the fixed interview date in Putrajaya SPA building.

To prepare for the interview, you need to study a bit about the general overview of SPA, the organisation (carta organisasi), bahagian and fungsi of KKM and lembaga farmasi as well as some knowledge about pharmacy of course. They might ask about your interest and your future directions, and if you are interested to go to outskirts like Sabah so be prepared to answer these as well.

After the interview, all you have to do is to wait, wait and wait for the letters to come. I highly encourage people to get a part time job or to go travel whilst waiting - it could be months before the letter arrived. Meanwhile, keep calling the KKM to check when is the next posting letter arriving. They will normally send the letters in one batch by pos laju so everyone got their letters pretty much on the same day. Keep in touch with your friends of the same batch so that u don’t need to call or check mailboxes every day, because you guys can take turns to do that :D

There will be two letters to be received; one is from SPA which states that a gov offer is given to you, while the later one is the posting letter stating which place you will be going. The latter will normally just tell u the state you are assigned to, while the specific hospital that you are going will be revealed when u lapor diri in the jabatan kesihatan negeri. You will be given one month’s time to lapor diri to JKN upon receiving the letter, upon which u may (by the slightest chance) appeal to KKM if you are dissatisfied with the results.

Hope it helps! ;)