Proposed Amendments to Medical Act 1971 to Streamline Specialist Registration
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad announced proposed amendments to the Medical Act 1971 (Act 50) aimed at resolving registration issues for medical doctors who obtain specialist qualifications through the parallel pathway. The amendments, submitted jointly by Dr Dzulkefly and Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, have received the Cabinet’s preliminary approval.
The Medical Act 1971 (Act 50) is an “Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the registration and practice of medical practitioners and for national purposes to provide for certain provisions with regard to a period of service in the public services after full registration as a medical practitioner; and to make provision for purposes connected with the aforesaid matter.
– Laws of Malaysia
In a statement, Dr Dzulkefly revealed that the Cabinet agreed in principle to the proposed changes, which will be presented at the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the Fifteenth Parliament in 2024. These amendments seek to address the increasing demand for specialist services across Malaysia’s healthcare facilities by streamlining the recognition and registration process for medical specialists.
The parallel pathway, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and local higher education institutions (HEIs), aims to produce more specialists. The proposed legal changes will facilitate systematic implementation of both traditional and parallel specialist training pathways. Doctors completing these programs will be eligible for registration as medical specialists in the National Specialist Register (NSR) under the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), resolving existing registration issues promptly.
Dr Dzulkefly emphasized that the MOH would ensure the quality of training, practitioner competency, and patient safety remain paramount. The spotlight on the parallel pathway issue arose when the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) requested Universiti Teknologi MARA to admit non-Bumiputera medical officers for specialized cardiothoracic training, similar to its acceptance of international students.
This followed the MMC’s rejection of four cardiothoracic surgeons’ applications to the NSR due to non-recognition of their Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS Ed).
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Source: Bernama
Category: MJN enews
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