METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 859 Malaysian medical students from 21 medical schools who voluntarily completed a self-administered online questionnaire that was disseminated by representatives from medical schools nationwide and social media platforms of a national medical student society.

RESULTS: 37.8% of the respondents were optimistic about a career with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Malaysia in the future. Most of the respondents (91.2%) plan to join and complete the MOH Housemanship programme as soon as possible after graduation, with the majority of them (66.2%) planning to complete it in their state of origin. After 2 years of Housemanship programme, only more than half of the respondents (63.1%) plan to continue their careers in MOH. Slightly more than a quarter (27.1%) of the total respondents plan to emigrate to practise medicine, with 80.7% of them planning to return to Malaysia to practise medicine after some years or after completing specialisation training. Combining the career intentions of Malaysian medical students immediately after graduation and upon completion of the 2 years housemanship programme, only a slight majority (57.5%) of the respondents plan to continue their career in MOH eventually. Most of the respondents (85.0%) intend to specialise.