Lawyer Jeremiah Rais, who represented the doctors, told FMT that Justice Amarjeet Singh allowed four of the five prayers sought by his clients in their application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings.
The court also fixed the suit for case management on May 2.
The doctors are seeking a declaration that they are entitled to registration as cardiothoracic surgery specialists on the NSR pursuant to Section 14C of the Medical Act 1971 after successfully attaining the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS Ed).
They are also seeking an order of certiorari to quash MMC’s rejection of their applications.
In addition, the doctors want the court to issue an order of mandamus compelling the MMC to approve and register the applicants as specialists in cardiothoracic surgery on the NSR within seven days of the court’s order.
Jeremiah said the court will also hear an application by the doctors for a stay order, designed to prevent the MMC from implementing its decision.
They want the court to prevent the regulator from making consequential decisions, including the imposition of additional registration requirements, pending the final determination of the judicial review application.
The joint application was brought by Drs Nur Aziah Ismail and Chong Kee Soon, both from the National Heart Institute (IJN), and Drs Syed Nasir Syed Hassan and Lok Yuh Ing who are attached to public hospitals.
The doctors successfully attained their FRCS Ed after passing the mandatory RCSEd Joint Specialty Fellowship Examination in cardiothoracic surgery which is used in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
According to the court documents, Aziah completed five years of training at IJN. She also spent a year each at the Sarawak Heart Centre (SHC) and under supervised practice.
Meanwhile, Chong did his course at IJN over five years and spent one year at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).
Syed Nasir did his training at Serdang Hospital (three years), IJN (one year) and UMMC (two years).
Lok was attached to Penang Hospital (one year), Serdang Hospital (two years), IJN (one year), SHC (one year) and Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, UK (one year).