Two persons are drowning - one, your best friend, while the other is your own mother, and there is insufficient to save both.

Given the scenario, Chan Sia Hui, 19 of Bintulu said he would decide to save his own mother first. "This is because my Mother has raised me up and provided me with a good education," he said. "The relationship goes back to as early as my birth."

As a medical student, Chan who recently started his medical degree programme at UCSI (University College Sedaya International), said he values good relationships with his family members, but for his best friend, he said: "I can only do what a person can do to his level best, when given the choice to choose between his own mother and his best friend. If death has to take the life of my best friend, it’s really beyond my control. It’s God’s decision."

For this simple reason, Chan said that his career as a medical doctor in the future will be built on an ongoing relationship with his patients.

"This, of course, does not mean that I will allow my emotions to take control of a situation," he said. "I want to establish very good relationships with my patients. Instead of treating them as `Patient B with lung cancer’ or `Patient F with cardiac arrest’, I want to know them by their names and treat them with dignity. Mannequins are plentiful, but a patient is a human being and has emotions."

Ultimately, he said, it is this relationship with his patients that will allow him to be a caring doctor. "I will do my best to save my patients, but if they really cannot make it through, I will have to accept the fact that it is God’s ordained time for them to go; and in the process, I will also learn to manage my own emotions so that I can continue helping other patients, without going through a nervous breakdown."

For Chan, who hopes to become a heart specialist, his ambition to be a doctor has originated from his early involvement in voluntary work while still studying in school. "I was with the Red Crescent Society, and I found that helping people is really what I like to do," he said. "That is the reason why I chose Medicine."

For fellow medical student, Basherri Anjun, 19, of Pakistan, her ambition to become a doctor has always been instilled in her from young. “Both my parents are general practitioners," she said. "I am following my parents’ footsteps."

However, for one whole year, while still doing her pre-university programme, she said she had doubts about pursuing medicine. "It is good that I started asking all these important questions about my future career, before I am half way through it. At least now, I do not have any doubts anymore that this is what I want to do with my life," she said.

Besides, she said, after checking out various options, she finally decided that she has a strong passion for the subjects taught in the medical degree programme.

"I also believe I have the qualities that are required of a medical student," she said. "I am hardworking and self-initiated. I like meeting and helping people."

For students who are thinking about doing medicine, Basherri has a word of advice: "Do not be afraid of making a commitment and a decision in life. While you are still contemplating to do medicine, work hard, and you will make it! You do not need to have very high IQ, but simply be willing to put your heart in it. Come and join us! We need more doctors."

Both Chan and Basherri are among the first batch of 40 who joined UCSI’s first cohort of medical students. They had their orientation on April 4. The Doctor of Medicine degree programme will take five years to complete where Years 1 and 2 will be conducted at UCSI Kuala Lumpur campus. The course will be taught and conducted largely by basic medical scientists strongly supported by clinicians, Years 3, 4 and 5 modules will be conducted in Kuala Terengganu using the Kuala Terengganu General Hospital facilities, also to be taught by clinicians also supported by basic scientists.