PETALING JAYA: Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye has hailed the decision by local universities to seek accreditation to run cardiothoracic surgery courses, saying it was “long overdue”.
“It’s good that the local universities are developing the programme, but the parallel pathway programme should carry on,” the cardiac specialist told FMT.
Lee, who is also the former Gopeng MP, was asked to comment on the announcement by higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir earlier today on the move.
Zambry revealed that Universiti Malaya (UM) was among the universities that are in the process of being accredited to run a cardiothoracic surgery course.
While he did not identify the other universities, Zambry said that such courses would be offered in the nearest future once these institutions obtain the accreditation.
Currently, only UiTM has a cardiothoracic surgery specialist programme although it has yet to be recognised by the MMC. However, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has given the programme a provisional nod to train cardiothoracic surgeons.
Malaysia has been plagued by a lack of cardiothoracic surgeons in public hospitals and this has led to a long waiting list for surgery for heart patients, some of whom do not survive the wait.
The issue has been further compounded by the Malaysian Medical Council’s (MMC) refusal to recognise cardiothoracic specialists who graduated under the parallel pathway programme.
Lee went on to say that the local masters programme should try to develop the capacity to train specialists but admitted it could be “insufficient” to produce enough to cater for the country’s needs.
“So the parallel pathway programme should be allowed to carry on so that we would have enough specialists to be trained for the future.”
Under the parallel pathway programme sponsored by the health ministry, specialist trainees are linked to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s cardiothoracic programme.
Earlier today, government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said amendments to the law needed to resolve issues concerning the parallel pathway programme will be discussed at next week’s Cabinet meeting, adding that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has provided the Cabinet with legal perspectives on the issue.
Meanwhile, nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah who had previously highlighted the importance of the parallel pathway programme, also praised the decision by the universities to obtain accreditation.
“It’s a great effort,” she said when contacted.
