MMC suspends three doctors

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) has suspended three doctors for improper conduct so far this year.
Figures till the end of March show that there are 172 complaints against doctors which have yet to be resolved.
The MMC found Dr Syed Zainal Husin Wafa of Klinik Wafa guilty of pre-signing blank employment medical examination documents meant for 57 patients. His suspension ends on Aug 8.
Dr R. Ravindran of Klinik Ravi & Surgeri in Sepang was charged with neglect and disregard of his professional responsibilities for allowing an unregistered employee to prescribe medication to patients, which contravenes The Poisons Act 1952. His suspension ends on Sept 7.
Dr Stanzil Pious of Klinik Asia, Pasir Gudang, was found guilty of two charges. The first, for which he has been suspended until Sept 23, is failing to provide identifying features in three X-ray films seized from his clinic.
The second was for permitting an unqualified person to operate an X-ray machine, for which he was reprimanded.
"The cases involving Dr Syed Zainal and Dr Ravindran were the result of public complaints. Dr Stanzil’s clinic was inspected by the Health Ministry’s engineering section which detected the wrongdoings," a source said.
MMC president Datuk Dr Ismail Merican, who announced the suspensions in a Press statement, said it was an offence under the Medical Act for suspended medical practitioners to practise medicine. They are also not allowed to use the title "doctor".
A source said doctors had 30 days to appeal to the High Court but the three had not done so. There are 14 cases now on appeal.
Last year, of the 189 outstanding complaints, 100 were resolved or thrown out. In 2004, of the 224 outstanding complaints, 73 were resolved or dismissed.