Toh Hong Keng, 71, says he was inspired to go back to school after meeting two Indian students in Kyrgyzstan.

Toh Hong Keng cuts a distinctive figure among his fellow medical graduates. (Herry Ahn pic)

 

 

GEORGE TOWN: A Port Dickson-born grandfather quips that he could be the the world’s oldest medical graduate when he receives his degree this weekend.

 

 

Toh Hong Keng has been living in Hong Kong for 30 years and is a permanent resident, but has been studying medicine at Southwestern University in the Philippines for the past five years.

He turns 71 in September.

 

 

On July 20, he will become the university’s oldest graduate since its inception in 1948.

 

 

Prior to pursuing medicine, he worked for close to 30 years in sales and marketing at major companies like Hewlett-Packard and Welch Allyn, holding top regional leadership positions.

 

 

Toh is husband to Margarette Tan, 65. He is father to three children and grandfather to two. 

 

 

He was born to rubber tappers of Hokkien descent in Port Dickson, and educated first at Port Dickson High School, and later King George V School, Seremban.

 

 

He also earned a degree in chemistry and control engineering from the University of Bradford, England, in 1978, and later obtained a master’s in chemical engineering from the Imperial College in 1980, which he said he financed by working as a binman.

 

 

Toh said becoming a doctor was not always his dream, as he wanted to be an engineer. 

 

 

However, two young Indian students he met during a trip to Kyrgyzstan inspired him to consider a new career path.

 

 

They were pursuing their medical degree and it dawned on me that I could do the same, he said in an interview with FMT.

 

 

 

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https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/07/19/pd-grandpa-set-to-be-worlds-oldest-medical-grad/