Aesthetic medicine to be officially recognised

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry will draw up a training module for aesthetic medicine that will see medical practitioners who undertake the programme being acknowledged as specialists.
Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said currently the ministry and The Academy of Medicine Malaysia did not recognise the field as a sub-speciality.
He said stakeholders including professional bodies and associations would draw up a proposal to be presented to the ministry.
They included the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), Malaysian Dental Council, Malaysia Medical Association, The Academy of Medicine Malaysia, Malaysian Association of Plastics, Aesthetic and Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons and Malaysian Society of Aesthetic Medicine.
A committee at the ministry would look into the recommendations.
"So, while this is pending, we will not allow a person to call himself an aesthetic specialist," he told reporters on Thursday.
"With the training module, it becomes a recognised sub-speciality with a three-year training scheme. All sub-specialists have to undergo this training locally and overseas before they can come back and claim to be sub-specialists." Dr Ismail said there were cases where the practitioner went for a five-day course and received a certificate. An additional five days gained him a diploma.
"We have characters like that in our midst," he said.
Dr Ismail added that with immediate effect, medical practitioners who currently offered aesthetic practices were required to produce evidence of their training and qualifications to the ministry's medical practice division before being allowed to carry out the procedures.