PETALING JAYA, Sept 6 — Doctors and nurses at private clinics should respond swiftly when requested by employers to verify the issuance of medical certificates (MCs).
This will help to rid the problem of fake medical chits, the Malaysian Employers Federation said.
The federation’s executive director, Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, said the medical personnel, regardless of whether they were from panel or non-panel clinics, should work together with parties concerned to expose such activities.
“The clinics play an important role and must assist the employers, especially the human resource department, in the verification process,” he said.
“They should respond immediately to queries from employers regarding MCs issued to their staff.”
Shamsuddin was commenting on a Malay Mail report yesterday that unidentified individuals were promoting the sale of fake MCs over social media.
“Employers have found that clinics not on a company’s list of panel doctors do not urgently reply to queries regarding an employee’s MC,” he said.
“Most of the time, the clinical assistants ignore the queries or take a long time to reply, which could be too late to penalise the staff if it was found that a fake MC was submitted.
“The sooner a fake MC is detected, the faster it will be to start an investigation.”
Shamsuddin said employers would not be able to act without the assistance of
the clinics.
“As soon as there is proof from the clinics, the employers would be able to work with the police and ensure those behind the sale of fake MCs are caught,” he said.
In previous incidents involving fake MCs, there were cases brought to the attention of the federation, but as no police report was lodged, there was no follow-up action.
“This will continue if employers and their human resource departments do not take the matter seriously by reporting to the authorities,” he said.
Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said the ministry would not condone such practises as it would tarnish the credibility of doctors.
“Activities like this must not be tolerated. This is why immediate action on those responsible must be taken,” he said.
Expressing surprise over how blatant those responsible were promoting their activities over social media, Richard said it was obvious they showed “absolute disregard” for the law.
A Malay Mail investigation showed how easy it was to obtain three MCs merely over a WhatsApp conversation with the supplier of the fake chits.
The said individual advertised his services via a name card placed on a vehicle in Kota Damansara, and carried a Facebook page address and WhatsApp contact.
A Malay Mail reporter “bought” two MCs on Aug 27, which were delivered via Pos Laju three days later after RM50 was deposited into a bank account.
The MCs were found to carry the names of legitimate clinics and doctors in Subang Jaya and Damansara Utama.
