PETALING JAYA: The parallel pathway is an immediate and viable alternative to providing cardiothoracic specialists in Malaysia, says National Heart Association of Malaysia president Dr Alan Fong.
He said this in a press release on Tuesday (June 4) adding that this is in light of the long waiting list faced by patients awaiting specialist-led care such as cardiac surgery.
"The Council of the National Heart Association supports all initiatives that address the immediate lack of medical and surgical specialists in our country," said Dr Fong.
On May 27, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the Medical Act 1971 will be amended to resolve issues related to the parallel pathway programme.
He also said the Cabinet paper on the programme would be presented for approval at the Cabinet meeting on June 5.
In March, he told the Dewan Rakyat that there were only 14 cardiothoracic surgeons working under his ministry.
The Star in March had reported 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 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).
This is the third known lawsuit against the MMC’s rejection of NSR specialist registration applications.
The other two lawsuits were filed by a neurosurgeon with FRCS Ireland in neurosurgery and by six pathology graduates in medical genetics from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
On May 29, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said that there are two issues to be resolved, namely the recognition of the cardiothoracic parallel pathway programme and the NSR registration of doctors who have completed the programme.
The amendments to the Medical Act are expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in the upcoming meeting this month.
