When students at Southwestern University PHINMA in Cebu, Philippines, first saw 70-year-old Toh Hong Keng in class, they assumed he was a professor rather than a freshman medical student. However, in July 2024, the retired executive from Malaysia achieved a remarkable milestone by graduating from medical school, making him one of the world’s oldest medical school graduates.
“My family and friends were surprised at first. Several of my friends thought I was crazy wanting to study medicine at this age,” Mr Toh told CNN.
Sharing his experience, Mr Toh of being a medical graduate at 70, he said, “It wasn’t always easy. At 65 to 70 years old, my memory, eyesight, hearing and body are not as good as when I was younger.”
Mr Toh spent most of his life working in tech sales. But as soon as he retired, he decided to immerse himself in anatomy textbooks rather than doing long lunches or playing a game of golf. But it wasn’t an easy journey, Mr Toh was held back a year after failing a paediatrics exam in his third year. In his final year, he was required to complete a one-year placement at private and public hospitals, with some shifts lasting 30 hours.Â
“Actually, why do I have to do this? Maybe I should give up,” Mr Toh recalled saying to himself many times during those years.
Mr Toh gave credit to his family for always keeping a check on him and his classmates, many decades younger than him, encouraged him to not give up.Â
One mantra helped him, “Sayang” – a phrase in the Tagalog language meaning it would be a shame not to see it through. “Sir Toh,” his classmates would affectionately tell him, “If you give up now, it will be sayang.”
Throughout the 5-year course, Mr Toh never asked for any special consideration and had “a very strong resolve” to persevere, said Dr Marvi Dulnuan-Niog, medical school dean. “Mr Toh is already an accomplished businessman and professional, yet he is still very open to new things. He was very passionate and persevering.”
Mr Toh told CNN that he never had great ambitions as a child to become a doctor. The idea came when he met two young Indian medical students during a vacation in the central  Asian country of Kyrgyzstan in 2018. That meeting sparked the idea that he might one day pursue a medical degree.Â
“The only reason why I decided to study medicine was because I wanted something useful to do,” he said. “I’ve done different courses. I’ve done economics, I’ve done chemistry, I’ve done electronic engineering – but I don’t want to do that again.”
Mr Toh added, “If I can’t be a practising doctor, at least I can look after myself somewhat,” he said.
Soon after retiring from the corporate world, Mr Toh spent weeks studying for entrance exams and applied to nearly a dozen universities across Asia. However, the 70-year-old struggled to find a program without an age limit.
But then got in touch with his family’s former domestic worker whose daughter recently graduated from medical school in the Philippines, the media outlet reported. After a few exams and interviews, Mr. Toh eventually landed an offer at Southwestern University in Cebu. And in 2019, he packed his bags and started his medical journey.Â
