The corporatized medical regulator, MMC, is making decisions which appear to be contradictory to the path taken by the health ministry on recognition of specialist programmes.
The management of Malaysia’s healthcare system is showing some serious cracks. Some are saying it is now under the high dependency unit. Quick action has to be taken before it lands itself in the intensive care unit.
Pressing matters are not being given the attention that is due. More than 6,000 contract doctors have left government service in the past six years, mostly due to long waits for permanent employment. Some threw in the towel after claiming they have been overworked and underpaid. The number is set to grow.
Source: https://mmc.gov.my
The most telling figure that ought to have jolted the authorities is that about 1,500 heart and lung disease patients in government hospitals are forced to wait up to a year for life-saving surgeries. All because of a serious lack of qualified surgeons. The Malaysian Association for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery which gave this figure has estimated that two patients die each week. There are only 14 cardiothoracic surgeons left in public hospitals, working against time to save the lives of these patients.
Surgery in private hospitals can cost at least RM80,000. In government hospitals, patients pay only about RM500.
Despite this utmost urgency, the medical council, MMC, has taken a questionable stand by refusing to recognise cardiothoracic surgeons who were trained at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh under the health ministry’s parallel pathway programme.
The Edinburgh programme is recognised by the rest of the world. Without this accreditation, the specialists cannot be placed in the national specialist register, and cannot practice, either in the public or private sector. Right now, there are four cardiothoracic surgeons who have completed the course and 28 more in various stages of completion.
What many find hard to fathom is that the MMC chief and the director-general of health are one and the same person – Dr Radzi Abu Hassan. And yet a recent ministry circular made people wonder if he knew what he was doing. The ministry invited those with specialist training in the fields of cardiothoracic surgery, family medicine and plastic surgery from Edinburgh and two other royal colleges to apply for the minimum six-month gazettement programme. This is a path for those in the parallel pathway to practise as specialists.
How can this happen when the MMC is refusing to recognise the very qualification for registration as specialists?
Recently, Radzi announced that a special task force is to be set up to re-evaluate the recognition issue. Based on the names of the members in the seven-man special committee, there is no cardiothoracic surgeon among them. The fraternity holds this to be indeed very odd as a major issue involves the recognition of these specialists.
If the MMC cares to look around, there are scores of experienced cardiothoracic surgeons who have retired or are still practising in Malaysia with qualifications from the Edinburgh college.
The MMC is a body entrusted with powers to ensure medical professionals give their best to their patients and the nation. It also introduced the Code of Professional Conduct, providing the yardstick for the proper conduct and behaviour of doctors in their clinical practices. But is the MMC practising what it preaches?
Reference:
Hs the MMC gone rogue in the recognition of specialists? K. Parkaran, FMT, 1 April 2024
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