In its affidavit-in-reply to a suit filed by four cardiothoracic surgeons who obtained the FRCS Ed CTS via the health ministry’s parallel pathway programme, MMC said it took over the NSR website from Jan 1, 2023, from the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (AMM).
“For some reason unknown to the respondent (MMC), the NSR website contained a different list (which contained the FRCS ed CTS qualification) that was neither approved nor authorised by the respondent,” MMC acting CEO Anas Hussein said in the June 15 document sighted by FMT.
He said the anomaly discovered in 2021 had the FRCS Ed CTS among the specialist qualifications recognised by the NSR. He alleged that it had been entered into the list without permission or knowledge of MMC.
“Dr Rusnah Hussin from the NSR secretariat wrote to MMC admitting that the list on the website has not been updated according to the list provided by MMC in 2017. Following this, it was the AMM which removed the FRCS Ed CTS from the list on Jan 24, 2022,” he said.
In April, MMC president Dr Radzi Abu Hassan, who is also health director-general, claimed MMC had never recognised the FRCS Ed CTS.
Early this year, four doctors who successfully attained their FRCS Ed CTS via the parallel pathway had filed a suit against MMC for refusing to recognise their qualification and register them in the NSR.
In April, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed the surgeons leave to challenge MMC’s decision.
The joint application was brought by Dr Nur Aziah Ismail and Dr Chong Kee Soon, both from the National Heart Institute (IJN), and Dr Syed Nasir Syed Hassan and Dr Lok Yuh Ing who are attached to public hospitals.
They said the qualification was listed in the NSR list managed by MMC when the health ministry launched the parallel pathway in 2016, with then health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah signing the memorandum of understanding with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
According to Anas, following the implementation of the 2012 Medical Act amendments in 2017, MMC notified the NSR secretariat of the new list of recognised postgraduate qualifications with a view that the website would accordingly be updated, but it was not done.
He said the secretariat was aware that the information on the NSR website must be in accordance with and not inconsistent with MMC’s decisions.
He also clarified that the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has also no authority to accredit medical specialists.
“To recognise medical specialists, the 2017 Medical Regulations empowered MMC to set up a medical education committee (MEC) whose role is to recognise the training institutions and their qualifications to register medical practitioners.
“MEC also makes proposals to MMC on the standards and qualifications for the purpose of listing them in the NSR,” he said.
Anas said there was a “savings provision” in the 2012 Medical Act amendments whereby those recognised as specialists before they came into force on July 1, 2017 will be deemed as being already in the NSR.
“However, there is no savings or transitional provision relating to specialist qualifications or programmes recognised by other agencies before July 1, 2017,” he said, adding that the applications of the plaintiffs in made between June and September last year could not be processed as the FRCS ED CTS was not in MMC’s list of recognised qualifications.
The non-recognition has now affected some parallel pathway programmes launched by the health ministry a year before the implementation.
On the doctors’ claim that their parallel pathway was recognised by the health ministry and launched by then MMC president Noor Hisham, who signed the MoU with the royal college, Anas said Noor Hisham did so in his capacity as health director-general and not MMC president.
“It was carried out without any knowledge or agreement with MMC. All the MoUs do not bind any other agency and are not intended to be legally binding,” it said.
MMC also contended that neither the health ministry nor the Malaysian Association of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, both of whom are managing the parallel pathway programme, are recognised training institutes with no statutory governance.
MMC admitted that it recognises 14 of the 18 parallel pathway medical programmes as they were submitted by the national curriculum centre and certified by MMC.
“However, FRCS Ed CTS and three other programmes have not been recognised yet,” MMC added.
Lawyer for the specialists Jeremiah Rais said the matter was called up for case management yesterday and the court directed that the doctors’ reply affidavit be filed by Aug 16.
“The next case management will be on Aug 21. The proposed amendments to the Medical Act 1971 were not raised during the case management as it would have been premature without first having sight of the bill,” he added.