Govt not planning to set up a separate council under MMC for Sarawak

Senator Robert Lau

By Karen Bong

KUCHING, Sept 3: The federal government has no plans to establish a separate organisation under the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) for Sarawak.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba pointed out that whether a separate organisation was practical or otherwise, medical practitioners with main practice serving in Sarawak comprised only six per cent of the total number of medical practitioners with Certificates of Annual Practice.

“MMC is a federal statutory body that has a Special Act which is the Medical Act 1971.

“The main functions of MMC are to register all medical practitioners, regulate medical practice and implement Compulsory Services,” he told the Dewan Negara when responding to a query from Senator Robert Lau today.

Concerning registration, Dr Adham explained that it involved registering all medical practitioners in Malaysia including medical officers as well as medical experts and specialists.

“MMC also conducts accreditation together with Medical Qualifying Agency (MQA), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Ministry of Health (MOH) to set standards and criteria for registering undergraduate medical programmes under the Second Schedule of the Medical Act and specialty programmes,” he said.

MMC, he continued, also functions to regulate guidelines which have been set and conduct reviews to ensure that medical practices are top notch and ensure medical practitioners possess the highest level of ethics.

“Medical practitioners are monitored through peer review by MMC which consists of medical practitioners from various backgrounds,” he added.

Dr Adham emphasised that MMC also ensures that medical practitioners fulfil their responsibilities through Compulsory Services and were not only seen in terms of services but clinical exposure to ensure that medical practitioners were prepared to further their careers in their field of expertise.

He added that MMC has a long history and has been established since before Independence.

Among the traditions and practices, he continued, were good relations with regulatory bodies around the world especially in Commonwealth countries as well as on par with the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) and also the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).

“MMC is also a member of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA),” he added. — DayakDaily