MMC can now bring in those who meet required standards and competency
PETALING JAYA: Amendments to the Medical Act 1971 (Act 50) will address specialist shortages while maintaining standards, safety and quality of care, say medical groups.
Malaysian Association for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery honorary secretary Dr John Chan Kok Meng said the amendment is a progressive move.
“This will give flexibility to the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) to register specialists who meet the required standards and competency,” he said when contacted yesterday.
He added that the amendments address technicalities that have prevented MMC from registering parallel pathway graduates.
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“It formalises the role of the Health Ministry as a specialist training provider and gives MMC full authority to recognise specialist qualifications if they meet the required standards without the need to refer to any other bodies,” he said.
While Malaysian universities have done well in providing specialist training, they have weaknesses in some specialties, for example: Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiology, Urology and Family Medicine, he said.
“These are also fields with a critical shortage of specialists,” he added.
Parallel pathway training, he said, has been very successful in producing specialists of the highest standards, which are equal to those in the United Kingdom.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) also agrees that the amendments are crucial for resolving the ongoing parallel pathway.
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“It enables both parallel pathways and Master’s programmes to run concurrently, addressing the gap between these two routes to specialisation,” said its president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz in a statement on Sunday.
This way, graduates from both routes would have a clear path to specialist registration.
She also said that recognising a wider range of qualifications would allow more qualified specialists to serve in public healthcare facilities.
“We acknowledge concerns about maintaining the quality of specialist training. MMA emphasises that these amendments aim to uphold high standards while addressing urgent healthcare needs,” she said.
Meanwhile, public health expert and retired Health Ministry official Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar noted that clarifying Section 14, which details registration as a medical practitioner and specialist, is laudable.
However, he said more clarity about the accreditation system and process is needed as it is currently not clear in this amendment.
On the other hand, Group of Professors of Health and Medicine head Prof Dr Noor Hassim Ismail said the amendments were made too hastily. He pointed to the double standard, where the parallel pathway does not comply with the accreditation by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), while local programmes must comply.
He said there should be a standard agency for specialist accreditation, much like the Malaysian Accreditation Organisation for Healthcare Facilities and Services for hospitals.
“If MQA is decoupled from the Health Ministry’s specialist programme, it will result in uncertainty about the programme’s quality,” he said.
MQA had clarified in June that the accreditation and recognition activities of medical institutions within the country lie with MMC.
Moreover, Noor Hassim said the Health Ministry is given too much clout under the new amendments, especially with the changes to the composition of MMC.
“Most of the specialist programmes come from universities; we need universities’ understanding of postgraduate programmes in MMC to make wise decisions,” he said.
