Medical fraternity lauds ‘historic’ amendments to Medical Act

KUALA LUMPUR: Calling it a “historic” day, the medical fraternity has come together to laud the amendments to the Medical Act (Act 50) that was passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (July 17).

“A historic day – the Dewan Rakyat has passed the Medical Act amendments without any changes,” said former Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday (July 17).

Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran, who is also the former director of the Sungai Bakap Hospital shared the same sentiment.

“History is made. My lifelong dream of positively impacting the future of our nation fulfilled,” he said on Facebook.

Former deputy health director-general Datuk Dr Christopher Lee said on X that finally there was a good conclusion to the impasse.

“A pragmatic and logical step forward for medical speciality training in Malaysia,” he said.

“Health Ministry consultants have always been involved in the training of new specialists. Malaysia’s health services (both public & private) would not be where it is now if not for parallel programmes. Parallel programmes complement the local Masters programmes. It’s not a zero-sum game,” he added.

Several MPs participated in the debate on the Bill, which seeks to amend provisions related to the registration of specialists and the recognition of qualifications and specialised training.

Changes in the composition of the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) members have also been proposed.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad gave his assurances that amendments to the Act would be enforced as soon as possible after it was gazetted.

The proposed amendment to the Bill came about after the Malaysian Medical Council refused to recognise certain programmes.

The Star had previously reported that there is a possibility that the Health Minister would be given more clout in conducting and recognising specialist training programmes to deal with the parallel pathway conflict, through the amendment.

The Star had also reported in March that the shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons has left some 1,500 heart and lung disease patients in government hospitals in dire straits.

Some of the above cardiothoracic surgeons will also be retiring soon.

Malaysian graduates who had been sent by the government to study cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) are unable to practise in Malaysia as their qualifications are not accepted by the MMC.

In response, the MMC said it had never recognised the RCSEd programme.

Four of these graduates have already sued the MMC for refusing to register them with the National Specialist Register (NSR).