Debating the Medical Act 1971 Amendment Bill today, Shahidan (PN-Arau) said the bill should be referred to a select committee for further review.
Although PN was not against the principle of the bill, the opposition found its implementation lacking, he added.
He said the amendments would see an increase in the number of medical specialists in Malaysia, but also less consistency in their overall quality.
“We must ensure that (prospective specialists) have to go through the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) first before the MMC.
“The MMC should have powers only to list (specialists in the National Specialist Register or NSR) and certify higher education institutions,” he said, adding that giving ultimate power to the MMC to recognise specialists would compromise the parallel pathway programme.
Tabled for its first reading on Monday, the amendment will see, among others, Section 14(2A)(a) of the Medical Act 1971 amended to replace the previous clause of “recognised training programme in any recognised training institution” with “training programme in any institution as determined by the MMC”.
Changes to Section 14B(2) will empower the health minister to register specialist doctors upon the MMC’s recommendation if the minister is satisfied that the applicant has any other comparable qualification or specialised training of special value to the country.
The health ministry’s chief cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Basheer Ahamed Abd Kareem previously said the bill would provide clarity that the MMC and health ministry will have the ultimate power and be independent in recognising specialists, with the MQA out of the picture.
Shahidan took issue with this, saying only medical professionals should have the sole power to register specialists.
“If the minister is a medical expert, okay. But why does the minister need such powers? Malaysians, if we (PN) become ministers (after taking over the government), we won’t use this ministerial power.
“Let professionals decide on matters of life and death,” he said.
However, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad later replied, citing a letter from MQA that said the power to certify specialist degrees from parallel pathway programmes had previously been given to the health ministry as agreed in a MQA Council meeting on Mar 20, 2018.
“This means there has been no disagreement on this matter all this while. Only those that do not understand the matter will argue for (MQA) to give its accreditation anyway,” he said.