PETALING JAYA: A senator has hailed the Cabinet’s decision to amend the Medical Act to resolve the parallel pathway imbroglio, calling it good news for some 2,000 heart patients who have been waiting over a year for their procedures.
Dr RA Lingeshwaran said the move could save lives as the critical shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons had led to some patients at heart centres in Penang and Serdang dying while waiting their turn for operations.
He especially commended the health and higher education ministries for being “bold and quick” to resolve the impasse between specialists and the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) despite strong opposition from some quarters.
“While the move will help all parallel pathway specialists from 14 disciplines, the biggest beneficiary will be heart patients. Currently, we have about a dozen parallel pathway surgeons who have successfully completed their training.
“Ten of them entering the service as specialists will see the long queue moving immediately. With about another 20 in various stages of their courses, Malaysian heart patients can expect more prompt care,” the former Sungai Bakap hospital director told FMT.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the Cabinet agreed to table a bill in the coming parliamentary session to address issues concerning the parallel pathway programme.
The government said the amendments were expected to resolve the overlap of power between the Malaysian Qualifications Agency and MMC.
There are reportedly only 14 cardiothoracic surgeons in public hospitals at the moment.
MMC is currently involved in a controversy with specialists from the parallel pathway programme and graduates in medical genetics over the recognition of their qualifications for inclusion in the National Specialist Register (NSR).
In response to the ongoing dispute, four cardiothoracic surgeons who qualified from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, alongside six graduates from Universiti Sains Malaysia, filed a lawsuit against MMC.
Lingeshwaran said the legal amendments were timely as the nation grapples with a shortage of healthcare specialists – a problem compounded by its ageing population.
He said since raising the issue in the senate three months ago, many Malaysian specialists in various fields working abroad had contacted him to share how their attempts to get listed in the NSR were ignored.
“I hope the MMC will allow the committees representing the various specialties comprising experts to vet the applications to make the necessary recommendations.
“They are the ones who should be deciding on the registration of specialists,” he said.
The senator also voiced hope that the bill would encourage and enable Malaysian specialists practising abroad to return home to work.
“They are being stopped by the MMC. This will immediately ease the nation’s great need for specialists and help achieve our target of having 28,000 specialists in public healthcare by 2030,” he said. - FMT
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