KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — The cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway has produced five more graduates, amid an imbroglio over the Malaysian Medical Council’s (MMC) non-recognition of the FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery qualification.
Malaysian Association for Thoracic & Cardiothoracic Surgery (MATCVS) honorary secretary Prof Dr John Chan Kok Meng announced on Facebook that the five Malaysian budding specialist doctors passed the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s (RCSEd) Joint Specialty Fellowship (JSF) examination in cardiothoracic surgery yesterday, together with candidates from Singapore and Hong Kong.
“They will be awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCS Ed) in Cardiothoracic Surgery,” Dr Chan wrote.
“The successful candidates from Singapore and Hong Kong will be eligible for specialist registration in Singapore and Hong Kong with this qualification.”
Last December, the MMC, which regulates the medical profession in Malaysia, rejected National Specialist Register (NSR) specialist registration applications by at least four pioneer graduates of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway programme with the RCSEd, on the basis of non-recognition of the FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery qualification.
This prompted a lawsuit by four of the parallel pathway graduates against the MMC, two of whom are currently working in the MOH while the other two are employed by the National Heart Institute (IJN). The High Court here granted leave last April to their joint judicial review application.
Dr Chan, who was one of the co-examiners for the JSF examination in cardiothoracic surgery held in Singapore over the weekend, claimed that the exam “follows a similar format and is run to the same standards” as the cardiothoracic surgery Intercollegiate Specialty Fellowship Examination conducted by the United Kingdom Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations (JCIE).
The other co-examiner for the JSF exam in Singapore was JCIE chair Mike Lewis.
“Examiners this weekend include the Chairs of the JCIE, the Cardiothoracic JCIE, the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery, as well as examiners from the RCSEd, the Joint Committee of Specialist Training of Singapore, the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong and the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia,” Dr Chan wrote.
“The examination and qualification awarded is fully recognised for specialist registration in Singapore and Hong Kong, and also in the UK through the portfolio pathway.”
The UK General Medical Council (GMC) – which regulates the medical profession in the UK across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – previously told CodeBlue that the FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery does not entitle an individual to specialist registration in the UK.
GMC stressed that it is the Intercollegiate Specialty Fellowship Examination (ISFE) approved for the purpose of specialty training in the UK and subsequent recognition onto the UK specialist register, not the FRCS.
The UK regulator also said the ISFE and the Joint Surgical Colleges Fellowship Examination (JSCFE) – both administered by the JCIE – aren’t equivalent. GMC added that no exam is mandated for applications for specialist registration through the portfolio pathway route.
JCIE’s Lewis and RCSEd vice president Prof Tim Graham had a meeting in MOH Putrajaya last Thursday with MOH deputy secretary-general (finance) Norazman Ayob and a few other ministry officials, together with MATCVS president Dr Basheer Ahamed Abdul Kareem and Dr Chan, who is also a council member of the College of Surgeons Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (CSAMM), among others.
“This visit was to discuss the parallel pathway specialist training,” MOH Putrajaya posted on Facebook.
Health director-general Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, who is also the MMC president, was crucially absent from the meeting. Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni also did not attend the meeting; Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad was away at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, at the time.
Prof Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid, a vascular surgeon at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM and an appointed MMC council member, posted on Facebook last Friday that two recently qualified Malay cardiac surgeons – presumably from the cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway programme – received job offers from Royal Brompton Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, both located in the UK capital of London.
He did not specify if the two had successfully registered as specialists or consultants in the UK with their FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery qualification or if they had received offers for junior positions in the National Health Service (NHS) instead, like senior clinical fellows (this is a junior doctor position, unlike senior doctor or specialist positions like SAS doctors or consultants).
“The parallel programme was designed to train our surgeons locally and to serve our local public, using international standards. Some say UK does not recognise them, so we should not recognise them. Imagine saying that to your sons and daughters. Don’t blame anyone else, if they don’t come back,” Dr Hanafiah wrote.
The UK GMC previously told CodeBlue that the FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery is recognised as an acceptable postgraduate qualification for the purpose of applying for full registration and a licence to practise with the GMC provided it was following examination, “but not specialist registration.”
