BALIK PULAU – The draft amendment bill for Medical Act 1971 (Act 50) to resolve the issue of registering medical doctors who obtain specialist qualifications through the parallel pathway, has been submitted to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) for review, according to Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad.
The health minister said several engagement sessions will be held with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and other stakeholders before the draft is presented to the cabinet.
“At the recent cabinet meeting, the Minister of Higher Education (Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir) and I jointly presented a cabinet memorandum related to the specialist training or parallel pathway issue.
“There are 14 programmes abroad, (and) 29 master’s programmes in medicine conducted by nine local universities, all of these were compiled together after the Health Ministry faced various controversies and finally referred to the Attorney General’s Chambers for a legal opinion,” he told a press conference, here today.
He said the amendment bill is expected to be tabled in the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the current Parliament for debate.
The parallel pathway issue gained public attention when the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) requested Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to admit non-Bumiputera medical officers wishing to receive specialised training in the cardiothoracic field, similar to how the institution accepts international students.
This came after the MMC rejected the application of four cardiothoracic surgeons to be listed in the National Specialist Register because the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS Ed) they obtained was not recognised.
UiTM is the only university in the country that offers the parallel pathway programme in the cardiothoracic field, in collaboration with the National Heart Institute. – June 7, 2024