KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers and a medical practitioners’ association have urged the authorities to investigate a company accused of providing allegedly unauthorised aesthetic medicine courses for failing to address public concerns about their services.
The company was urged to explain why their courses, which allegedly involved injections, Botox and treatment procedures, were conducted in hotels, instead of licensed medical premises and without accreditations from the authorities.
“The moment you start to inject and apply procedures on patients, this is where all the rules and regulations come in,” said Malaysia Certified Medical Aesthetic Doctors Organisation (PDEBM) president Dr Ungku Shahrin Ungku Mohd Zaman (pic) in a press conference by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department on Monday (May 18).
Dr Ungku Shahrin said procedures involving injections, Botox and thread treatments could only be performed by qualified and registered medical practitioners and in licensed medical premises equipped to handle emergencies, not hotels or temporary training venues.FOR
“Any medical procedure needs to be done in proper premises such as hospitals or clinics approved by the Health Ministry,” he said.
In a press conference organised by the department last Wednesday, eight women claimed that they had been duped by the company, spending up to RM180,000 on courses advertised on Facebook.
Victims alleged they were promised professional aesthetic medicine qualifications and certifications, while others claimed their classes never started despite making payments.
Following reports, the company issued a statement last Thursday defending its courses, saying participants who completed all training modules and fully paid their fees would receive certificates issued under its own rules and regulations.
Lawyer Esther Hor said the company’s response to the victims’ grievances failed to address key concerns, including which body authorised their alleged use of needles in training modules and the certificates awarded for the courses.
“Who approved the training modules? Which authority certified that the programme was legitimate?” she asked in Monday’s press conference.
Hor said the company’s claim that its courses were conducted using its own internal rules and regulations, and that the programmes did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Higher Education Ministry or the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), also raised serious doubts.
“If it is not under MOH, not under MMC, then under which authority?” Hor asked.
Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said at least seven victims had filed police reports on the matter and urged other victims to do the same, adding that the department would continue to look into the matter.
