Nor Hisham broke the law, messed up Medical Specialist training

Not many is aware, the budget for the teaching hospitals in this country were slashed few years ago. It happened before Tan Sri Nor Hisham Abdullah introduced the Parallel Pathway in his so-called attempt to shortcut the process of producing more medical specialist.

PP used up the budget of Ministry of Health (MOH), which is not responsible for medical education but that of Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). Budget meant for public health were diverted into areas which is not supposed to be spent by MOH and compromised public health well beings. 

Since this issue will be addressed in Parliament, Member of Parliaments should be looking into the implication on the budget and not narrowly channeled by what was briefed to them. Its practically attempt by MOH to kill off medical education of local Universities. 

As the next Parliament session draws near, the same happening as before and reported by this blog in earlier postings is happening.

Proponents of PP attempted to confuse the public to deflect the weakness on the accredition of PP, bad planning of MOH, lack of assessment and monitoring for academic quality, and the more serious matter of patients' safety. 

--------

In a briefing by MMC to Health Parliament Committee, they acknowledged Noor Hisham's initiative since 2016 had broken the law. 

Taken from Codeblue dated June 20th:

After MMC Briefing, Health Parliament Committee Highlights Regulatory Non-Compliance With Parallel Pathway

By Alifah Zainuddin | 20 June 2024

After an MMC briefing on April 23, the Health parliament special select committee says: “The issue is that the recognition of the parallel pathway does not comply with current regulations, even as the process of producing specialists is already underway.”

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — After a briefing from the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), the Health parliamentary special select committee (PSSC) acknowledged that the problem with the parallel pathway for medical specialty training is non-compliance with existing regulations.

Acting MMC chief executive officer Dr Mohamed Anas Mohamed Hussain testified at the Health PSSC’s fourth meeting of the year last April 23 in Parliament on the parallel pathway issue, after the MMC rejected specialist registration applications by at least four graduates of the cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway programme with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on the basis of non-recognition of the FRCS Edinburgh in Cardiothoracic Surgery qualification.

“The issue is that the recognition of the parallel pathway does not comply with current regulations, even as the process of producing specialists is already underway,” Health PSSC chairman Suhaizan Kayat, who is also Pulai MP and former Johor state legislative assembly speaker, said in a text message to CodeBlue last Thursday.

“MMC said they are tied to existing legislations.

“I believe that due to the urgent need in addressing the issue of the National Specialist Register (NSR), which involves saving lives, relevant stakeholders must come together to negotiate and resolve the issues at hand, including amending the Act.”

Read on in Thick as Brick HERE