PETALING JAYA: Expressing concern over the legality of the parallel pathway programme, a group of academics, non-governmental organisations, and medical practitioners have called for the proposed amendment to the Medical Act 1971 (Act 50) to be postponed.
The group sent a memorandum detailing their concerns to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Health on July 10.
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“There is no need to amend the Act. The ministry must adhere to all laws to allow programme qualifications to be registered in the Malaysian Qualification Register (MQR).
“It must also allow the parallel pathway programme trainee specialists and graduates to be registered in the National Specialist Register,” the group said in the memorandum.
The group also expressed concern over the legal definitions brought by the ministry in justifying amendments to Act 50.
“We suggest continuing the judicial review of graduate doctors of the cardiothoracic parallel pathway programme. Let the court decide,” it added.
The group was of the view that the proposed amendments are “dangerous to the safety of the people”.
“This is because the programme has no legal oversight on how a specialist is trained and the programme is recognised,” they pointed out.
The group said collaboration between the Health and Higher Education Ministries and academies was necessary to strengthen expertise programmes from local universities rather than granting leniency to foreign qualifications, of which some are not recognised in their home country.
“We hope the minister will postpone the tabling of the amendments until a detailed study has been conducted, so that doctors who have graduated and are currently pursuing the parallel pathway programme can be registered in the NSR (National Specialist Register) without the need for the amendments,” they said.
The group said that direct registration of graduates from the programme could lead to the reputation of medical specialist training programmes being looked down upon, claiming that no other country directly recognises these graduates as specialists.
As part of its recommendations, the group said all international qualifications must comply with laws such as the MQA Act 2007 (Act 679), Act 50, Medical Act (Amendment) 2012, Act 555 and AUKU (Act 30), and Medical Regulations 2017.
This, they said, is in line with the current practice for specialist training programmes provided by local universities.
