MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977

Medical Assistants (Registration) LAWS OF MALAYSIA REPRINT Act 180 MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977 Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968 IN COLLABORATION WITH PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD 2006 1 2 MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977 Date of Royal Assent ... ... ... … ... 2 March 1977 Date of publication in the Gazette ... ... … 10 March 1977 PREVIOUS REPRINT First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2001 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 180 MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title, commencement and application 2. Interpretation PART II MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) BOARD 3. Establishment and constitution of Medical Assistants (Registration) Board 4. Meetings of the Board 5. Acts of the Board to be valid notwithstanding defect in appointment or vacancy PART III REGISTER OF MEDICAL ASSISTANTS, ENTITLEMENT TO REGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION 6. Register of medical assistants 7. Only registered persons to be employed as medical assistants 8. Saving provision in respect of persons already employed as medical assistants 9. Persons entitled to be registered 10. Entry of name in register and issue of certificate of registration 11. Expiry of certificate of registration and renewal thereof 12. Entries in register and certificates to be under hand of registrar 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180 PART IV PUBLICATION, REMOVAL AND RESTORATION Section 13. Publication of register and presumptions 14. Removal of names from register 15. Publication of removal of name from register and cancellation of certificate of registration 16. Publication of restoration of name to the register PART V APPEALS 17. Appeal to Minister against decision of Board to be final 18. Appeal to operate as stay in respect only of renewal of certificate of registration PART VI GENERAL 19. Board may require information 20. Sufficient to require or furnish particulars or information by registered letter 21. Penalties for unlawful assumption of title of medical assistant, falsification of register and general contravention of the Act 22. Power of Minister to make regulations Medical Assistants (Registration) 5 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 180 MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977 An Act to provide for the establishment of a Medical Assistants (Registration) Board, the registration of medical assistants and matters connected therewith. [West Malaysia—14 February 1980, P.U. (B) 75/1980; Sabah and Sarawak—1 November 1980, P.U. (B) 513/1980] BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title, commencement and application 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Medical Assistants (Registration) Act 1977 and shall come into force on such date or dates as the Minister may appoint by notification in the Gazette and the Minister may appoint different dates for different parts of Malaysia. (2) This Act shall apply throughout Malaysia. Interpretation 2. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires— “appeal” means an appeal made under section 17; 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180 “Board” means the Medical Assistants (Registration) Board established under section 3; “chief medical assistant” means the person appointed to be the chief medical assistant in the Ministry of Health and includes a person acting temporarily in such capacity; “Director General” means the Director General of Health Malaysia and includes a person acting temporarily in such capacity; “employer” includes the Government; “Government health centre” includes a Government clinic and a Government dispensary for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of patients; “medical assistant” means any person who is registered under this Act; “member” means a member of the Board; “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; “private clinic” means any premises owned or maintained by a registered medical practitioner for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of private out-patients and includes a private dispensary; “private hospital” has the meaning assigned thereto in the Private Hospitals Act 1971 [Act 43]; “register” means the register of medical assistants kept and maintained under section 6; “Registrar” means the Director General while exercising the functions of the registrar of medical assistants under this Act; “regulations” means regulations made under this Act; “training centre” means a centre or an institution approved by the Board for the training of persons intending to be registered as medical assistants. Medical Assistants (Registration) 7 PART II MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) BOARD Establishment and constitution of Medical Assistants (Registration) Board 3. (1) There is established a board called the Medical Assistants (Registration) Board which shall be responsible for the registration of persons entitled to be registered as medical assistants and for matters connected therewith. (2) The Board shall consist of a chairman, a secretary and such other members as the Minister may determine. (3) The Director General shall be the chairman and the chief medical assistant shall be the secretary. (4) The members of the Board, other than the chairman and the secretary, shall be appointed for specified terms by the Minister and such members shall be eligible for reappointment. (5) Notwithstanding subsection (4), the Minister may at any time and without assigning any reason therefor revoke the appointment of a member other than the chairman or the secretary. Meetings of the Board 4. (1) The chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Board at which he is present. (2) In the absence of the chairman from any meeting, the members present shall elect one of their number to be chairman. (3) The chairman at any meeting shall have an original vote and also, if upon any matter the votes are equally divided, a casting vote. (4) The Board shall meet at such places and such times as the chairman may appoint and at any meeting four members shall form a quorum. 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180 Acts of the Board to be valid notwithstanding defect in appointment or vacancy 5. All acts done by the Board shall, notwithstanding any vacancy in the Board or that it is afterwards discovered that there was a defect in the appointment of a person purporting to be a member thereof, be as valid as if no such vacancy or defect had existed. PART III REGISTER OF MEDICAL ASSISTANTS, ENTITLEMENT TO REGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION Register of medical assistants 6. (1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be kept a register of medical assistants in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed. (2) The Director General shall be the registrar of medical assistants and he shall be responsible for the maintenance and custody of the register and shall perform such duties in connection therewith as may be prescribed. Only registered persons to be employed as medical assistants 7. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and section 8, no person shall be employed as a medical assistant or to perform the duties of a medical assistant (irrespective of the title attached to his office)— (a) in a Government hospital, Government health centre or other Government institution for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of patients; (b) in a private hospital, private clinic or other private institution for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of patients; or (c) by a registered medical practitioner, unless such person is registered under this Act. (2) Subsection (1) shall not apply— (a) to persons undergoing training for the purposes of this Act in any of the institutions specified in paragraph (a) of that subsection as may be approved by the Board or in a training centre; and Medical Assistants (Registration) 9 (b) to persons registered under the Estate Hospital Assistants (Registration) Act 1965 [Act 435] in so far as such persons are to be employed or are employed in estate hospitals within the meaning of that Act. (3) A person registered under the Estate Hospital Assistants (Registration) Act 1965 shall not be registered under this Act unless he becomes entitled to be registered under this Act and also ceases to be registered under that Act. Saving provision in respect of persons already employed as medical assistants 8. (1) Where a person is in employment contrary to section 7 on the commencement of this Act, such person may continue in his employment for a period not exceeding six years from such commencement after which he shall cease to be so employed unless— (a) he is sooner registered under this Act; or (b) he is, by an order of the Minister published in the Gazette, exempted from registration under this Act. (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed to derogate from the right of an employer to terminate the services of an employee in accordance with the terms and conditions of his employment. Persons entitled to be registered 9. (1) Any person who— (a) passes the prescribed examinations and successfully completes a prescribed course of training in any of the institutions specified in paragraph 7(1)(a) as may be approved by the Board for that purpose or in a training centre; or (b) satisfies the Board that he has at the commencement of this Act passed any examination sufficient in the opinion of the Board to qualify him to be registered under this Act, shall, on application made in the prescribed form and on duly complying with all prescribed requirements and furnishing such particulars as may be called for by the Board, be entitled to be registered under this Act. 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180 (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Board may refuse to register any such person if it so deems fit. (3) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Board made under subsection (2) may appeal therefrom to the Minister and the appeal shall be made and disposed of as provided in section 17. Entry of name in register and issue of certificate of registration 10. (1) The Board shall cause to be entered in the register the name of every person who is entitled to be registered under this Act and whom the Board has not refused to register. (2) On his name being entered in the register, the Board shall issue to every such person a certificate of registration in the prescribed form on payment of the prescribed fee. (3) A certificate of registration issued under subsection (2) may contain any conditions and restrictions the Board may deem fit to impose and such conditions and restrictions may be varied by the Board from time to time. (4) Where a person is registered subject to any conditions and restrictions imposed pursuant to subsection (3), such conditions and restrictions shall be endorsed in his certificate of registration and the certificate so endorsed shall have effect subject to the conditions and restrictions specified therein. Expiry of certificate of registration and renewal thereof 11. (1) Subject to subsection 18(1), a certificate of registration shall expire on the 31st day of December of the year in which it is issued but the Board may renew such certificate annually in the prescribed form on payment of the prescribed fee. (2) An application for renewal of such certificate shall be made not later than the 30th day of September in each year and the Board shall decide thereon and renew or refuse to renew such certificate and shall in either case communicate its decision to the person concerned not later than the 30th day of November in the same year. Medical Assistants (Registration) 11 (3) In considering an application for the renewal of such certificate, the Board may exercise the same powers in respect thereof as it may ex