MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977

This Act shall apply throughout Malaysia.

Interpretation

The Board shall consist of a chairman, a secretary and such other members as the Minister may determine.

The Director General shall be the chairman and the chief medical assistant shall be the secretary.

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.

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

In the absence of the chairman from any meeting, the members present shall elect one of their number to be chairman.

The chairman at any meeting shall have an original vote and also, if upon any matter the votes are equally divided, a casting vote.

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.

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Acts of the Board to be valid notwithstanding defect in appointment or vacancy

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

in a Government hospital, Government health centre or other Government institution for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of patients;

in a private hospital, private clinic or other private institution for the care, treatment or rehabilitation of patients; or

by a registered medical practitioner, unless such person is registered under this Act.

Subsection (1) shall not apply—

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

he is sooner registered under this Act; or

he is, by an order of the Minister published in the Gazette, exempted from registration under this Act.

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

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

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.

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Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Board may refuse to register any such person if it so deems fit.

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

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.

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.

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

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)

In considering an application for the renewal of such certificate, the Board may exercise the same powers in respect thereof as it may exercise in considering an application for registration under this Act.

Entries in register and certificates to be under hand of registrar

The list published under subsection (1) may contain such further particulars as may be prescribed and the registrar may, if he so deems necessary, publish in the Gazette any entry that may from time to time be made in the register under subsection 10(1).

The register shall be a public document within the meaning of the Evidence Act 1950 [Act 56] and the publication of such list shall be prima facie evidence that the persons named therein are registered under this Act.

The absence of the name of any person from such list shall be prima facie that such person is not registered under this Act.

A certificate under the hand of the registrar that the name of a person has been entered in, removed from or restored to the register shall be conclusive evidence that the person is or is not registered under this Act, as the case may be.

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Removal of names from register

is proved to the satisfaction of the Board to be deceased;

has not supplied the Board an address in Malaysia at which he is to be found;

has failed to renew his certificate of registration;

is in the opinion of the Board guilty of improper conduct;

wilfully supplied fraudulent or incorrect particulars or information in his application for registration or under section 19, as the case may be;

was registered through error as to his qualification for registration;

is of unsound mind or by reason of some other infirmity is, in the opinion of the Board, not a fit person to remain on the register;

is an undischarged bankrupt;

has been found guilty of an offence which, in the opinion of the Board, renders him unfit to remain on the register;

or

has been found guilty of an offence under this Act.

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the Board may proceed to remove from the register the name of any person who fails to respond within one month of the despatch of a registered letter to his last-known address requiring him to furnish such information as the Board may deem fit.

The Board shall not remove from the register the name of a person under any of paragraphs (1)(d) to (j) without giving the person an opportunity to be heard personally or by counsel but where the person fails to avail himself of such opportunity or chooses not to be heard within one month of being notified as provided in subsection (2) of an intention to remove his name from the register, the Board may proceed to so remove his name.

Medical Assistants (Registration)

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Publication of removal of name from register and cancellation of certificate of registration

The removal of the name and cancellation of the certificate of registration made under subsection (1) shall be published in the

Gazette under the hand of the registrar.

Publication of restoration of name to the register

Any restoration to the register made under subsection (1)

shall be published in the Gazette under the hand of the registrar.

In disposing of an appeal the Minister may confirm, set aside or vary the decision made or condition or restriction imposed by the Board and his order thereon shall be final.

Appeal to operate as stay in respect only of renewal of certificate of registration

Where the Board refuses to renew a certificate of registration and the person concerned appeals to the Minister under section 17, the validity of such certificate shall be deemed not to expire on the 31st day of December and such person may continue to be employed as a medical assistant until the Minister makes an order under subsection 17(2).

Where the Minister dismisses the appeal, the presumption under subsection (2) shall cease to apply and the person concerned shall, within such time as the Minister may allow, cease to be so employed.

Where the Minister allows the appeal, the Board shall renew the certificate of registration on payment of the prescribed fee and on due compliance with this Act and regulations.

Every person whose name is on the register shall, within three months of any change that may occur in the particulars he has furnished to the Board, notify the Board of the change.

Sufficient to require or furnish particulars or information by registered letter

required by the Board; or

furnished by any person, it shall be sufficient for the Board or the person to require or furnish the particulars or information by registered letter addressed to the Board at its official address or to the person at his last-known address, as the case may be.

Medical Assistants (Registration)

Notwithstanding subsection (1), the person may furnish the particulars or information by delivering the same to the Board personally or by his representative.

Penalties for unlawful assumption of title of medical assistant, falsification of register and general contravention of the Act

not being a person registered under this Act claims to be so registered or to be employed as a medical assistant

(irrespective of the title attached to his office), uses or claims to be entitled to use any name, title, addition, description, uniform or badge implying that he is or is recognized by law as being so registered, or uses or claims to be entitled to use any title, uniform or badge prescribed for the use of medical assistants; or

with intent to deceive makes use of any certificate of registration which has been issued under this Act to any other person, is guilty of an offence and is liable on first conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both, and on a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both.

Any person who—

the procedure at meetings and other proceedings of the

Board;

the prescription of minimum educational qualifications and other requirements for admission to training centres;

the training of persons intending to be registered as medical assistants and the approval of institutions to be training centres;

the conduct of examinations and matters ancillary thereto or connected therewith;

the fees to be paid for examinations, applications for registration, issue certificates of registration and renewals thereof;

the fees to be paid to examiners;

the form of application for certificates of registration and renewals thereof and the requirements to be complied with;

the qualifications requisite for registration as medical assistants and the grounds on which registration and renewal thereof may be refused;

the form, maintenance and publication of the register the form of certificates of registration and renewals thereof;

the removal of names from and the restoration of names to the register;

the Board to constitute committees and authorize the delegation to committees of any of the powers of the

Board and to regulate the proceedings of committees;

the prescription and the nature of duties to be performed by medical assistants.

Medical Assistants (Registration)

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Act 180

LIST OF AMENDMENTS

Amending law

Short title

In force from

Act A621

Medical Assistants (Registration)

31-05-1985;

(Amendment) Act 1985

except para 8(a) and 22(a) of first schdeule

West Malaysia—

14-02-1980;

Sabah &

Sarawak—

01-11-1980

P.U. (A) 342/2002

Rectification of Laws 23-08-2002

(Rectification of Medical

Assistants (Registration)

Act 1977) Order 2002

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KUALA LUMPUR

Act 180

MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1985

LIST OF SECTIONS AMENDED

Section

Amending authority

In force from 1

Act A621 31-05-1985 2

Act A621 31-05-1985