Responding to a question from Dr RA Lingeswaran in the Dewan Negara yesterday, Zambry said UiTM received its provisional recognition from MQA in 2020 for the two-year Master in Surgical Science (Cardiothoracic) course.
The doctors who complete this programme will then have to join the four-year Doctorate of Cardiothoracic Surgery programme before they can be listed in the National Specialist Register (NSR).
The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) only places doctors in the NSR if the college is on its recognition list. Those not listed in the NSR cannot practise as specialists.
“With this, UiTM is recognised as a training centre for cardiothoracic surgeons,” Zambry told Lingeswaran, who asked how the institution is able to conduct the course despite not being recognised by MMC.
Lingeswaran told the minister the MMC officially recognises cardiothoracic surgeons graduating only from four foreign institutions, adding that several doctors are already undergoing the programme at UiTM – which is not on the list.
Zambry admitted that the issue is plaguing the health sector at a time when the nation is in “dire need of specialists”.
“Just because of this technical problem, which has been prolonged, we have denied the rights of those with the qualification to be absorbed as specialists. It’s a big loss for the nation,” he said.
“The Cabinet has discussed this matter and decided to set up a special committee to resolve recognition issues affecting both the parallel pathway and the local master’s programmes.
“We don’t want this problem to be prolonged.”
He did not rule out the possibility of a need to amend the existing Medical Act 1971 to streamline the recognition.
Zambry said the problem has to be resolved soon as the nation targets to have 19,714 specialists by 2030, adding that the local training university hospitals have only produced 7,935 specialists so far.
“Right now, there are 95 specialist programmes, with 91 of them in public universities. The remaining four are in private colleges which have been accredited by the MQA and MMC,” he said.
“That is why the local master’s training and the health ministry’s parallel pathway programmes must co-exist to meet the nation’s needs.”
Yesterday, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad assured specialists from the parallel pathway programme who are facing problems being listed in the NSR that the matter will be resolved soon.
MMC president Dr Radzi Abu Hassan stirred controversy when he said in a recent statement the regulator had never recognised cardiothoracic surgeons graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, which falls under the health ministry’s parallel pathway programme.
Following this, Lingeswaran called out Radzi, who is also the health director-general, by saying the UK college was in the MMC’s list of recognised colleges until it suddenly “disappeared” in January 2022.