The pharmacist who graduated with money to spare: why can’t he see a future? The real situation of a Malaysian JPA scholar

A rare kind of top student

Life has taken me down a few turns, and my work now brings me into contact with all kinds of healthcare people. Ah Wong is one of the pharmacists I know.

He graduated in pharmacy from Monash University. While studying, he won several scholarships. They covered all his fees and still left a surplus.

Honestly, I have rarely heard of anyone finishing a pharmacy degree with money to spare. People like that are the kind of talent everyone wants to hire.

The price of a scholarship

But there is no such thing as a free lunch.

As a JPA scholar, he had to fulfil his bond after graduating by serving in a government hospital. He was posted to a hospital on the outskirts.

He left the city he knew, left his family and friends, and started again alone in a small town. He didn’t complain, because this was the deal he had signed.

One conversation, and he said what he really felt

Once, as we sat and talked, he suddenly said:

“Honestly, I feel lost about the road ahead.”

I was a little surprised. Someone this capable, feeling lost?

Slowly he walked me through it. There seemed to be only three roads in front of him.

The first road: stay in the government hospital and wait your turn

Promotion in government hospitals depends on seniority more than performance.

So what if you were a top Monash student? So what if you work harder and care more than others? You still follow the system and wait your turn, year after year.

For someone used to earning scholarships on merit, that feeling of “it makes no difference how much you do” is what wears you down the most.

The second road: do research in a company lab

Another road is to join a private company’s lab and carry on with research.

It is not a bad road, and many people do very well on it. But he knew clearly that it was not what he wanted. He studied pharmacy to work with people and help them, not to face instruments and data every day.

The third road: open a pharmacy like the seniors

The last road is to open his own pharmacy, as many of his seniors have done.

Being your own boss sounds impressive. But the reality is that there is a pharmacy next door, a chain store at the corner, and something cheaper online. Everyone competes until only one thing is left: a price war.

Someone who studied for so many years and knows so much ends up spending every day thinking about how to be a few ringgit cheaper than everyone else.

This is the quiet frustration of pharmacists in Malaysia

Someone that capable, looking at the roads ahead, unable to find one that is truly his.

Ah Wong is not the only one. Many pharmacists are stuck in the same place: good at what they do, warm at heart, but the roads are too narrow to see ahead.

What they lack is not ability. It is a road they can see ahead on.

If you are a pharmacist too, staring at the same three roads, I want to tell you: you are not alone, and your story deserves to be heard.

Ah Wong