Amendments to Medical Act 1971 resolve specialist shortage, improve healthcare system

KUCHING: The amendments to Act 50, the Medical Act 1971, passed in Parliament on today (July 16), mark a crucial step towards resolving the ongoing parallel pathway issue and addressing the critical shortage of medical specialists in Malaysia, says Dr Kelvin Yii.

The Bandar Kuching MP stated that these amendments enable both parallel pathways and master’s programmes to run concurrently, bridging the gap between these two routes to specialisation.

“I fully welcome such amendments as it is important to give room for the medical professionals fraternity and specialist societies who know and understand the needs and quality needed on the ground to decide the capacity and competency of those specialists in training in partnership with recognised and prestigious overseas medical establishments.

“However, to achieve its aim and strengthen our healthcare system without unintended consequences that may jeopardise the quality of care, proper implementation, transparent oversight, and a robust check-and-balance mechanism are also needed,” he said.

Dr Yii stressed the need for reforms within the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) itself to ensure proper oversight.

While the amendments improved the MMC’s composition, including more representation from Sabah and Sarawak, he called for increased transparency in the MMC’s decision-making process.

“This includes greater transparency in publicly publishing decisions made by the Medical Education Committee (MEC), including justifications and a clear chronology of events in recognising or derecognising a medical qualification, whether undergraduate or postgraduate.”

He highlighted the need to reform the MMC election process, modernising the voting system from postal ballots to digital voting in line with the Ministry of Health’s digital health transformation agenda.

Dr Yii also advocated for making the decisions and considerations of the Specialty Subcommittees for Education (SSC-Edu) available in the public domain, ensuring accountability and providing justifications for their decisions.

“Currently, the inconvenience of casting a ballot is discouraging the fraternity from voting, with only 10 per cent of the close to 70,000 registered medical practitioners participating each time elections are held. Voting results and votes for each candidate should also be transparently published.”

More importantly, he proposed increasing the composition of the MMC council to consist of at least 80 per cent elected representatives. Currently, only 17 out of the 33 MMC members are elected, with the remaining 16 being appointed positions.

“This is important as many powers have been given to members of the MMC to make important decisions, thus the majority of them should be kept accountable by their own fraternity through an election process.

“I also suggest that there be representation from the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (AMM) in the MMC to represent the voice and provide oversight by the medical societies on the board. Additionally, the top position of AMM, the ‘Master,’ is also elected, thus accountable to the members of these societies.”

“All these may be the first few steps for reforms to provide better oversight and ensure better outcomes. I believe that these amendments, coupled with proper implementation and oversight, will strengthen our healthcare system and benefit the nation as a whole,” Dr Yii added.