Training and certification of neurologists in South East Asia

ABSTRACT

South East Asia has 8% of world population, but only has 2% of the total number of neurologists in the world. Seven of the 11 countries in South East Asia have training programmes in Neurology. Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore require prior training and certification in Internal Medicine before admission to training to Neurology. Most training programmes are 3 years in duration, inclusive of mandatory rotation to clinical neurophysiology. Assessment and certification processes are vigorous in most countries. Mature age, lack of funding, inadequate direct clinical responsibilities, and poor literacy in English are other issues in some of the countries. There is need to improve the quality as well as quantity in the training of neurologists in the region.