Medical Specialists Told To Register With NSR

PETALING JAYA, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- The government wants all medical specialists in the country to get themselves recognised by registering with the National Specialist Registrar (NSR).
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the move was necessary to prevent the public from being duped by false medical practitioners who claimed to be experts.
To be recognised as a specialist, one has to apply to the Malaysian Medical Academy (MMA) Secretary who would submit the application to a sub-committee who then would evaluate the candidate's application based on experience, training, skills and exposure.
"Once the committee is satisfied with the application, the applicant will then be recognised as a specialist," he told reporters after the opening of the 40th Malaysia-Singapore Medical Congress and the official launch of NSR here Thursday.
Also present at the event was the Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah who is also the Royal Patron of MMA.
Chua said getting registered now would be to the advantage of the medical practitioners as registration with NSR would be made compulsory when the Medical Act 1971 is amended and gazetted next year.
This was because each registration would take three to four years to process, he added.
Under the current practice, medical practitioners were only required to be registered with the Malaysian Medical Council. The registration however did not discriminate between a doctor and a specialist.
Chua said the NSR recognition was only good for five years, and the medical practitioner would need to reapply again to be recognised as specialist.
Those who were members of the academy would be charged a fee of RM1,200 per application, while non-members must pay RM1,500.