Medical (Amendment) Act 2012

Last month, it was reported that the Amendment to the Medical Act (originally in 1971) was tabled in Parliament and amongst other things, gives the MMC more autonomy

The bill which was tabled by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin today, seeks to establish the council as a corporate body which may sue and be sued in its corporate name.
The council shall consist of a Director General and nine fully registered medical practitioners who are representatives from recognised local universities and university colleges.
The nine registered medical practitioners will be nominated from among members of the faculty by the governing bodies of the respective recognised local universities and university colleges.
Apart from that, the council will also have three fully registered medical practitioners from the private sector who will be nominated by the council; three fully registered medical practitioners from the public services sector nominated by the Director General; 15 fully registered medical practitioners resident in Peninsular Malaysia; two fully registered medical practitioners resident in Sabah and Sarawak each.
The bill also seeks to introduce the establishment of a Medical Qualifying Committee to look into the accreditation and recognition of the qualifications from both local and international training institutions.
Other important features of the proposed amendments are the introduction of production of evidence of any requirement stipulated by the council and insurance indemnity as prerequisite to renew the Annual Practicing Certificate. This is to ensure protection for both the practitioners as well as patients.
The council may also consider a foreigner who is not married to a local, but who is studying in a recognised local training institution, to be provisionally registered for the purpose of obtaining practical experience.
The bill also seeks to stipulate the grounds for the restriction of registration and substitute the Medical Review Panel with the Fitness to Practice Committee.

We also mentioned that the Specialists Register would be compulsory and it seems that this is the case as the bill has been pushed through successfully.
If you are interested in ploughing through the myriad of amendments, the 47 page PDF document on the Amendments to the Medical Act 2012 has been uploaded to Dobbs, the private Malaysian Doctors forum, and the topic discussed here (login required, if you are not registered, registration is open and free to all Malaysian doctors whether practicing in Malaysia or abroad).

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