KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — The government’s proposed amendments to the Medical Act 1971 cover both the parallel pathway training and local Master’s programmes for specialisation in medicine, Dzulkefly Ahmad said.
The health minister also suggested that graduates whose applications to be registered as specialists on the National Specialist Register (NSR) were rejected by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) – on the basis of non-recognition of their postgraduate qualifications – might benefit from the retrospective effect of the amendments.
“We’re at the final stage of looking at the amendments in their entirety. It’s not just about the parallel pathway; we’re also looking to regularise whatever anomaly or irregularity for both parallel pathways and Master’s in Medicine that is done locally,” Dzulkefly told reporters during a visit to Ampang Hospital today.
“We believe that with this effort for the amendments, both will be harmonised and strengthened.
“They [graduates] will all finally get to be registered once all this is put in place. There’s a clause for retrospective effect.”
The health minister said the Ministry of Health (MOH) is working with the Attorney-General’s Chambers on the bill. CodeBlue obtained an audio recording of Dzulkefly’s comments to the press from his office.
The health minister previously said in a statement that, pending Cabinet approval, he hoped to present the Medical Act amendment bill to Parliament in June.
MMC has already been hauled to court in at least three recent cases: four graduates with the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCS Ed) in cardiothoracic surgery; one graduate with the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FRCS Ire) in neurosurgery; and six Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) graduates with Master of Pathology (Medical Genetics).
In these three cases, judicial review applications were filed in the High Court here to contest the MMC’s rejection in December, October, and August last year respectively of the applicants’ NSR registration applications.
The current MMC president is Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, who came into office when he was appointed Health director-general in April 2023.
Crucially, Dr Muhammad Radzi issued a press statement last March 25, in his capacity as MMC president, to claim that the MMC had never, “at any time”, recognised the FRCS Ed in cardiothoracic surgery qualification.
Besides the three lawsuits, complaints have also emerged about MMC refusing to recognise other qualifications, like in plastic surgery or clinical research.
