More than medicine for doctors

Doctors will have to take part in “various activities” that can help their professional development before they are given medical practising certificates in the near future.
Attending workshops, seminars, downloading latest methods from the Internet or even listening to music to de-stress, are some of the activities that doctors could participate in.
“For example, if the doctor is seeing a patient and does not know how to treat, he can straight away browse the Internet for some help,” said Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican.
The move, which would be enforced in five years, is to ensure doctors, including specialists, were up-to-date with new treatment, technologies and knowledge in their respective fields.
Dr Ismail said they were still working on the details but “doctors must get used to the idea now as a time will come when they must show evidence that they have engaged in meaningful continuing professional development (CPD) activities.”
He said it was up to the professional medical bodies, such as the Malaysian Medical Association, Malaysian Medical Council and the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia, to decide on the amount and type of CPD activities or courses required.
He said each activity participated by the doctors would carry certain points which would be accumulated throughout the year.
“It’s up to the stakeholders to agree on the required set of points per year – whether 30 or 100 – and what areas or courses would be covered,” he said when opening the Malaysian Cardiovascular International Symposium, with live transmission from the National Heart Institute, here yesterday.
He said CPD was the only way to stay relevant, as “the public wants to get the latest treatment and not second or third hand-me-downs.”
“There has been a case previously where a general practitioner told a patient that there was no cure for Hepatitis. This is no longer true,” he said.
On another matter, Dr Ismail warned stand-alone cardiac facilities that they risk facing action if they misuse superlative words, such as “world-class treatment” when promoting their services.
“This is a worrying trend as a lot of centres are being set up. They should not mislead the public by using such words if they are not offering such services.
“We have identified certain centres and they know who they are. We don’t want the public to be duped, as medicine is not a business where you just make money. It deals with people’s lives,” he said.
Event organising chairman and cardiologist Datuk Seri Dr Robaayah Zambahari welcomed the move to make CPD compulsory, as “it’s important to keep abreast because some things we learnt in medical schools are not used anymore.”
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