PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway programme is recognised in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Brunei, says former health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Noor Hisham said the programme was established to address the absence of a local training programme for surgeons.
"The cardiothoracic parallel pathway was developed to train our local surgeons and prepare them for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh examination, which holds recognition in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei, and other places," he mentioned in a Facebook post.
"There was no local program then and the Cardiothoracic parallel pathway was born to train our local Surgeons and prepared them to sit for the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh examination which is recognised in UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei ..", he said.
Earlier this month, the Health Ministry said that Parallel Pathway Programme graduates will be recognised after an amendment to the Medical Act 1971 (Act 50).
In a statement, the ministry said will propose to the Cabinet to expedite the proposed amendment to the act.
This, the ministry said, is to ensure that medical specialists who have completed their training under the parallel pathway programme (PPP) will be registered and recognised.