KUALA LUMPUR: Provisional registrations of graduate medical practitioners in the country have declined by almost 38% since 2017, according to the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) annual report 2022.
The report found that provisional registrations decreased from 6,147 in 2017 to 5,218 in 2020 and then to only 3,857 in 2022, just under a 38% decrease.
The sharp decline from 2020 to 2022 was caused by a dip in provisional registrations of graduate medical practitioners from local private qualified institutions from 2,022 in 2020 to 1,810 in 2022.
Provisional registration of graduates from qualified overseas institutions saw the biggest drop by almost 60% in provisional registrations from 1,882 in 2020 to only 690 in 2022.
The provisional registration allows newly qualified graduate doctors to undertake general clinical training needed for full registration.
During this time, they will practice as a house officer in hospitals and institutions approved by the Medical Qualifying Committee under Section 13 of the Medical Act 1971.
MMC said statistics of provisional registration of postgraduate students entering graduate training in Malaysia do not accurately reflect the exact figures.
"Some medical practitioners choose alternative pathways or decide to start their careers abroad after obtaining registration.
"Although MMC manages pre-registration procedures and postgraduate training standards, the recruitment of graduate medical practitioners for clinical appointments depends on the availability of training slots at the Health Ministry," it said in its 2022 annual report that was released on Monday (March 3).
Despite the decrease in provisional registrations, MMC said the passing rate for the provisional registration examination had actually increased significantly in 2022.
It said that all 33 examinees passed the first batch of clinical tests in June 2022 while the second batch in December 2022 saw a 90% passing rate, in contrast to 2021 where the first batch had a 93% pass rate and the second batch had a 84.6% pass rate.
Surprisingly, the annual number of medical specialists registered by MMC saw a four-year high in 2022 at 1,077 registered, compared to 2021 (937), 2020 (908) and 2019 (893).
This boom included 994 new medical specialists in the public sector, 52 in the private sector, and 31 in other sectors for 2022.
The report also said MMC issued 126 temporary practicing certificates (TPC) in 2022, a three-year peak since 2020, where only 45 were issued.
It said the increase was due to the reduction in the Covid-19 pandemic cases nationwide which allowed the entry of foreign medical practitioners into the country.
The country with the most number of medical practitioners coming to Malaysia was Thailand (18), followed by India (12), as well as Philippines, Indonesia and the United Kingdom (eight each).
The issuance of annual practicing certificates (APC) also hit a six-year high of 66,820 in 2022, about a 30% increase from 44,802 APCs issued in 2017.
The APC is a requirement for medical practitioners to practice medicine in Malaysia that needs to be renewed each year.
MMC also said it had received 85 complaints under on Medical Act 1971 (Amendment 2012), which is also a six year high from only 11 complaints that were received in 2017.
The report also found that MMC's finances remained in the green as its annual revenue saw a slight increase to RM15,489,678 in 2022 compared to RM15,439,745 in 2021.
However its expenses increased by almost RM2mil from RM7,143,054 in 2021 to RM9,245,056 in 2022 and was attributed to increased spending on employee salary, remuneration and benefits; services and supplies; and other expenses.
