PETALING JAYA, Sept 5 — Medical practitioners have been urged to include their Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) registration numbers on medical certificates (MC).
The ministry’s deputy director-general Datuk Dr S. Jeyaindran said the ministry would push for the practice to be made compulsory.
“Doctors had previously been advised to include their MMC serial number on their rubber stamp as this would make it easier to detect if MCs are fake,” he said.
“But, we now plan to push for the practice to be made compulsory,” he said.
Commenting on Malay Mail’s investigation on unscrupulous individuals advertising the sale of MCs through call cards, Dr Jeyaindran said he was not surprised as those who sell fake MCs were getting more brazen, coming up with creative ways to make easy money.
“This is my first time hearing people offering such services through name cards,” he said.
“We will investigate the matter, but we need the cooperation from employers as well.”
He said the ministry had called on one of the clinics visited by a Malay Mail reporter, but its investigations revealed the doctor was not involved and the MC obtained by the reporter was forged.
“We will also meet up with the other doctor,” he said.
Dr Jeyaindran said by including their MMC number on MCs, doctors would be able to safeguard themselves against those who had been taking advantage of them.
“It may not stop the syndicates from continuing their business, but it would enable doctors to defend themselves in the event their names had been misused,” he said.
He said doctors must also record their patients’ MCs to help verify the chits if they were approached by employers.
Employers should also always check the authenticity of MCs submitted by their workers, Dr Jeyaindran said.
“Complaints must be lodged directly by employers to the ministry as soon as they find out their employees had submitted a fake MC,” he said.
He said people involved in the sale of fake MCs were usually clinic assistants and there were also many cases of doctors being victimised by syndicates.
“In most cases, we usually find out it is done by syndicates. But, if we find cases where doctors are issuing fake MCs, we will take action against them,” he said.
