An article by Dr Goh Heong Keong, published by CodeBlue on October 31, 2025, rightly highlights the challenging environment for doctors in Malaysia.
As the world’s leading medical defence organisation, supporting over 350,000 health care professionals around the world, including over 4,000 in Malaysia, we understand these challenges.
The high cost of clinical negligence and the impact on doctors who need to protect themselves against potential claims was discussed as one pressure doctors face, with the cost of MPS (Medical Protection Society) indemnity for neurosurgery mentioned in particular.
Neurosurgery is one of the highest risk profiles of all medical specialties. Patients who suffer neurological injury during surgery sadly can require lifelong care and rehabilitation, and experience loss of income. The compensation they are awarded in clinical negligence cases takes this into account.
Doctors across Malaysia working in different specialties, who do not undertake such high-risk procedures, will pay significantly less for their medical indemnity. Indeed, medical students and house officers pay no fee for their MPS membership.
Where the cost of clinical negligence is high, the cost of professional protection must reflect this. As a not-for-profit membership organisation, it is incumbent on us to ensure that we collect sufficient subscriptions to meet the expected costs of claims against members.
This ensures we can defend their interests into the future and ensures patients have access to compensation in the event that they are harmed.
Facing a clinical negligence claim can be financially and emotionally devastating. Being there when our members need us most – to protect their careers, reputations and financial security – is something we take very seriously.
Our philosophy is also to help members prevent issues from occurring in the first place. We take great pride in the wide range of educational and risk management resources we provide as a benefit of membership to support safe practice.
We would like to assure doctors in Malaysia that our commitment to providing comprehensive protection, peace of mind, and being a trusted partner in their professional journey remains as strong as ever.
This statement was issued by Dr Mohamed Faruqi Uzair Mohamed Sidek, a medicolegal consultant at Medical Protection Society based in London, the United Kingdom.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
