Groups welcome insurance and education plans for doctors

PETALING JAYA: Consumer groups have given their thumbsup to the move that makes it mandatory for doctors to have indemnity insurance and attend continuing education courses as conditions to renew their annual practising certificate (APC).

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the change from an automatic renewal of the APC was to ensure patients’ safety and for doctors to continually update their knowledge and skills.

He said ample time would be given to doctors to comply with the conditions to be imposed on all renewals from Jan 1, 2019.

These are among several changes made to the Medical (Amendment) Act 2012 and Medical Regulations 2017, which came into force yesterday.

Under the new rules, specialists would also have to register with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) to be recognised as such, in 20 fields of medicine including paediatrics, neurosurgery and psychiatry.

Specialists have until December to register and those already recognised by the MMC would automatically be placed in the National Specialist Register.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) senior vicepresident Datuk K. Koris Atan said although the indemnity insurance could raise medical costs, the benefits would outweigh the cost and also ensure doctors would be able to compensate patients in the event of any negligence issue.

“Continuing education courses will ensure doctors don’t become redundant but keep up to date with medical advances,” he said.

Asked about the MMC being corporatised, he said the move was good if it would ensure the council became more independent.

However, Koris questioned how independent the move would be if the council was still led by the Health Ministry directorgeneral.

Consumers Association of Penang president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the move to ensure all doctors had professional indemnity coverage would help but there was a need for more clarity as to how affected patients could get their compensation.

He said negligence suits were a headache for patients who took their cases to court.

Mohamed Idris applauded the move to require all specialists to be registered with the National Specialist Register given growing worries among the public about bogus doctors.

“Anyone can claim to be a specialist,” he said.

“The mandatory registration will allow patients to check on the specialists’ background.”