Change the composition of the Malaysian Medical Council to protect Malaysians

The council protects its own and members have too many conflicts of interest

The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) is coming up for elections on 23rd July and medical practitioners must ensure they vote for doctors with no tolerance for medical malpractice and have no conflicts of interest.

The MMC is made up of 32 members. Fifteen members are directly elected by medical practitioners, and the remaining 17 are appointed by the Minister for Health Khairy Jamaluddin, on the advice of the Director General of the MOH Dr Noor Hisham Bin Abdullah, who is chairman of the committee.

Noor Hisham Abdullah, Health Director General – his office has confirmed receiving multiple malpractice complaints in MMC but he has failed to respond. Khairy Jamaluddin, Health Minister ignoring warnings and reports.

An example of an unanswered legal complaint to MOH Director General

The MMC is made up of 32 members. Fifteen members are directly elected by medical practitioners, and the remaining 17 are appointed by the Minister for Health Khairy Jamaluddin, on the advice of the Director General of the MOH Dr Noor Hisham Bin Abdullah, who is chairman of the committee.

Medical injustices continue

The author has seen documents that the MMC is refusing to investigate Dr Gee Tikfu for breach of code of medical practice. This is the same Dr Gee who was just exonerated by the MMC in another medical malpractice complain made against him by Nur Muhammad Tarjid Zahalan, who recently passed away due to severe septicemia due to complications caused by paralysis from an allegedly botched surgery after years of suffering. He developed stomach ulcers he apparently couldn’t feel and the stomach perforated, with the contents leaching into his abdomen, causing septicemia.

The MMC refused to receive new evidence in the case against Dr Gee in a hearing last month, where the claimant Dr Geoffrey Williams on Nur Muhammad’s behalf had his personal effects and bag searched by MMC council members when he was summoned out of the hearing room.

There have now been two cases made against Dr Gee where due process has been refused by members of the council.

These cases appear to be the tip of the iceberg. Insurance companies such as Medical Defence Malaysia, for instance, are often connected to both the MMC disciplinary committees and the doctors they pay to defend. This is in an institutional environment where medical errors have been a longstanding problem with a high incidence of deaths second only to heart disease and cardiovascular disorders. 

The current council membership is clearly failing to protect Malaysians against errant doctors.

Other Issues

There have been numerous allegations of rape and sexual assault against doctors that the MMC has ignored. In one case a patient who complained of sexual assault by a doctor was herself slapped with charges of criminal defamation, but was vindicated when the charges were dropped by the AG chambers.

The former Health Minister Dr Dzulkelfly Ahmad had to circumvent the MMC and suspend an orthopaedic department head, who was described as a “sexual predator” by using the Public Service (SPA) regulations, rather than MMC regulations.

This raises issues about integrity and impartiality on the part of the MMC. Long term appointees to the MMC have created a culture of arrogance and opaqueness, where the body has lost all sense of accountability towards the public. There is a total lack of external scrutiny over decisions made by the MMC, and no procedural fallbacks for patients who feel aggrieved by MMC decisions.

Council membership not put under any formal scrutiny

Positions on the council are picked by a system in which only 20 percent to 30 percent of the 30,000 postal votes that are sent out to eligible medical practitioners are returned, meaning fewer than 1,000 votes would be necessary for an organized registered medical practitioner to gain a position on the MMC. There is no limit on the number of terms a practitioner can serve and some sitting members have been on the council since the 1970s. These shortfalls leave the council susceptible to vested interests.

A representative of the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (FOMCA) was reported as saying that elected council members are unlikely to risk their popularity with the doctors who elected them. 

Members of preliminary investigating committees are appointed by the MMC president. The investigating committees’ three to six members are all doctors with wide latitude on investigations. The preliminary investigating membership may not be diverse enough to allow for alternative opinions. No one represents the complainants’ interests. There is a high probability that members will be investigating employees, co-workers and/or peers. There is no compulsion to stand aside in a conflict of interest. 

Below is a list of council members that medical practitioners could consider voting out of office on 23rd July.

Elected (L-R): Kuljit Singh (Prince Court Medical Centre) – Investigated by MMC along with 11 other PCMC doctors for malpractice, PCMC fined for profiteering during the pandemic; Milton Lum Siew Wah (Alpha Specialist Centre) – Director of an organisation that pays for the legal defence of accused doctors in MMC hearings, embroiled in a scandal that took the MMC all the way to the Federal Court.

Below is a list of appointed council members which the minister Khairy Jamaluddin should immediately remove.

Top Row (L-R): Hanafiah Harunarashid (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia); Zamrin Dimon (Universiti Teknologi MARA); Fadzilah Binti Hasan (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia); Rose Nani binti Mudin (Sabah Health Department Director) – all facing police investigations;

Bottom Row (L-R): Mohammad Saffree Bin Jeffree (Universiti Malaysia Sabah); Nor Hayati Othman (Universiti Sains Malaysia); Abu Hassan Asaari Bin Abdullah (Hospital Kuala Lumpur); Ng Teck Han (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman) – all facing police investigations.

Appointees (L-R): Kandasami Palayan – recused for conflict of interest; Lim Joo Kiong – facing police investigations; Megat Burhainuddin – subject of international media exposure for “no questions asked” and “get this thing done sneakily” policy at MMC.

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