Groups want Dental Bill passed as law quickly

‘It is needed to control health services provided online’

PETALING JAYA: Consumer groups want the Dental Bill 2017 passed when Parliament convenes next month due to concerns over the proliferation of quack online dentists.

“The Bill must be passed soonest as dentistry is a basic health service for the people.

“The law should put in place a system to keep out quack doctors, especially those plying their trade on the Internet,” Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) secretary-general Datuk Paul Selvaraj said.

He added that it is important the new laws be enforced to weed out the quacks.

“The proposed registries for dentists and dental therapists must be made accessible to the public to verify if they are qualified,” he said.

Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the proposed law would make it compulsory for dentists and therapists to be registered and better regulated.

“Many today are looking for quick and cheap fixes. So they rely on quack doctors on the Internet as an alternative to expensive private medical care,” he said.

Mohamed said it was timely for some form of control to prevent the spread of unverified online health products and services, adding that the new law would also ensure reasonable and uniform dental rates for consumers.

The Dental Bill 2017, tabled for first reading in November, proposed the setting-up of the Malaysian Dental Council and Malaysian Dental Therapist Board to register professionals in the industry.

Unregistered persons found to be practising dentistry or impersonating dental practitioners can be fined up to RM300,000 or jailed not more than six years, or both.

The heavy penalty will also be imposed on those who appoint or enable the appointment of unregistered persons to conduct dental services, or practise in the same premises as them.

Last October, Nur Farahanis Ezatty Adli, 20, was fined RM70,000 and served six days of her one-month jail term for operating an unregistered private dental clinic in Melaka.

Her case came into the spotlight after several groups settled her fine, causing an outcry from netizens and professional bodies.

In May, 19-year-old Syidatul Hizlin Abd Hamid was fined RM40,000, in default one year’s jail, for providing unlicensed dental brace-fitting services at a homestay in Kuala Terengganu.

In January, Mohd Irwan Mohd Sudi, 25, was fined RM40,000 for offering to fit dental braces without approval for a man in Kuantan.