Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said several engagement sessions will be held with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, the Malaysian Medical Council, the higher education ministry and other stakeholders before it is presented to the Cabinet.

“At the recent Cabinet meeting, the higher education minister (Zambry Abdul Kadir) and I jointly presented a memorandum related to the parallel pathway issue.

“There are 14 programmes abroad (and) 29 master’s programmes in medicine conducted by nine local universities. A list of these programmes compiled after the health ministry faced various controversies (has) finally been referred to the AGC for a legal opinion,” he told a press conference here today.

He said the amendment bill is expected to be tabled in the upcoming meeting of Parliament beginning on June 24.

The parallel pathway issue gained public attention when the Malaysian Medical Association asked Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to admit non-Bumiputera medical officers wishing to receive specialised training in cardiothoracic surgery.

This came after the MMC rejected the applications of four cardiothoracic surgeons to be listed in the National Specialist Register as it did not recognise the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd) in cardiothoracic surgery.

UiTM is the only university in the country which offers the parallel pathway programme in collaboration with the National Heart Institute in the field of cardiothoracic surgery.