KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 — The High Court here today granted leave to four cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway graduates to commence judicial review proceedings against the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) for refusing to register them on the National Specialist Register (NSR).
This is the third known lawsuit against MMC’s rejections last year of NSR specialist registration applications that the High Court has allowed for judicial review.
High Court Judge Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh granted leave for judicial review to declare the applicants’ entitlement to registration as cardiothoracic surgery specialists on the NSR, based on their Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS Ed) qualification.
The applicants – Dr Nur Aziah Ismail, Dr Syed Nasir Syed Hassan, Dr Chong Kee Soon, and Dr Lok Yuh Ing – were represented by Steven Thiru and Sudhar Partnerships.
Dr Nur Aziah and Dr Chong are currently employed by the National Heart Institute (IJN), whereas Dr Syed Nasir and Dr Lok are working in the Ministry of Health (MOH).
CodeBlue spoke to lawyers representing the applicants, Jeremiah Rais and Leah Marie Samuel from Steven Thiru & Sudhar, as well as Gregory Das from CyrusDas Advocates & Solicitors who is external counsel.
Additionally, the High Court here today granted leave to review MMC’s October 17, 2023 decision in refusing the applicants’ specialist registration applications due to purported de-recognition or non-recognition of the FRCS Ed qualification.
It also granted leave for an order of mandamus – should applicants win their judicial review – compelling the MMC to approve and register the applicants as cardiothoracic surgery specialists on the NSR within seven days of the court’s order, along with seeking damages.
However, the court declined to grant leave on the applicants’ demand for court orders to recognise the FRCS Ed qualification as a “recognised specialist qualification” under Section 14B of the Medical Act 1971 (Amendment 2012), in the event applicants win their judicial review challenge.
The court today also did not grant applicants’ request for a stay on the implementation of the MMC’s decision to refuse to register them as cardiothoracic surgery specialists due to non-recognition of the FRCS Ed qualification. This matter will be heard later together with MMC.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), in a letter to the court, said they had no objections to the court’s decision. MMC representatives and lawyers were not present at the hearing today.
The High Court has set May 2 as the next case management date.
