KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) announced today that two medical indemnity providers have agreed to maintain coverage of doctors pending issuance of their 2026 annual practising certificate (APC).
The country’s largest doctors’ association said it received formal confirmation from Medical Protection Society (MPS) and Marsh’s Medefend that doctors who have received certification of indemnity starting January 1, 2026, and submitted their APC applications to the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) by December 31, 2025, would continue to be fully indemnified during the period without their certificate.
“This commitment from MPS and Medefend provides vital assurance for our members and the broader medical fraternity, ensuring continuity of indemnity arrangements while awaiting official APC issuance,” MMA president Dr R. Arasu said in a statement.
“MMA values the support of these partners, who have consistently upheld high standards of medico-legal protection for medical practitioners in Malaysia.”
When contacted, Marsh confirmed MMA’s statement.
“This involves doctors who met all the requirements – they’ve submitted their Medefend policy and they have fulfilled their requirement of 20 CPD points.
“As long as they fulfilled all the legal requirements for MMC to issue their APC, then their insurance cover would have come into effect from January 1, 2026, while waiting for APC to be issued to them,” Ratnawati Osman, senior vice president at FINPRO Healthcare, Marsh, told CodeBlue.
MPS Malaysia country manager Dr Kaema Nadarajan similarly confirmed continuity in medical indemnity coverage by MPS.
“As long as the doctor has submitted their certification of indemnity for the period commencing January 1, 2026, they’ve completed CPD requirements and applied for APC before December 31, 2025, and have met all legal requirements for MMC to issue their 2026 APC, their indemnity cover with MPS is effective from January 1, 2026, while awaiting formal issuance of their APC certificate,” she told CodeBlue.
In a notice to doctors, as sighted by CodeBlue, Chubb’s DoctorShield has also committed to continuing professional indemnity coverage for medical practitioners awaiting their 2026 APC.
“In line with MMC’s position, DoctorShield confirms that there is no gap in professional indemnity coverage during this interim period, provided that MMC requirements have been met and the doctor is not subject to any suspension, restriction, or prohibition under the Medical Act 1971 or any other applicable law.”
In a statement last Saturday, the MMC announced that doctors who complied with requirements and submitted complete applications for their 2026 APC by December 31, 2025, would be permitted to practise medicine pending issuance of their certificate, amid a backlog of reportedly tens of thousands of applications.
The Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA), which represents multinational drug makers, said its members would not sell their products to medical practitioners without a valid APC, citing the tight regulation of the pharma industry to ensure compliance across all levels of medicine use.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with MPS’ comments and DoctorShield’s notice.
