Medical Assistants (Registration) 1
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
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 exercise in considering an application for registration under
this Act.
Entries in register and certificates to be under hand of registrar
12. Without prejudice to anything that may be done by the registrar
in the exercise of his powers under this Act or regulations, all
entries in, removals and restorations to the register and all certificates
of registration and renewals thereof shall be under the hand of the
registrar.
PART IV
PUBLICATION, REMOVAL AND RESTORATION
Publication of register and presumptions
13. (1) The registrar shall publish annually in the Gazette, as
soon as practicable after the first day of January and not later than
the thirty-first day of March each year, a list containing the names,
addresses, qualifications, and dates of qualifications of all persons
registered under this Act.
(2) 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).
(3) 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.
(4) The absence of the name of any person from such list shall
be prima facie that such person is not registered under this Act.
(5) 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.
12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180
Removal of names from register
14. (1) The Board may remove from the register the name of any
person who—
(a) is proved to the satisfaction of the Board to be deceased;
(b) has not supplied the Board an address in Malaysia at
which he is to be found;
(c) has failed to renew his certificate of registration;
(d) is in the opinion of the Board guilty of improper conduct;
(e) wilfully supplied fraudulent or incorrect particulars or
information in his application for registration or under
section 19, as the case may be;
(f) was registered through error as to his qualification for
registration;
(g) 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;
(h) is an undischarged bankrupt;
(i) has been found guilty of an offence which, in the opinion
of the Board, renders him unfit to remain on the register;
or
(j) has been found guilty of an offence under this Act.
(2) 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.
(3) 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) 13
Publication of removal of name from register and cancellation
of certificate of registration
15. (1) The Board shall on removing the name of a person from
the register cancel his certificate of registration.
(2) 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
16. (1) If the Board deems fit in any case so to do it may, either
of its own motion or on the application of the person concerned,
and shall, on the order of the Minister, restore to the register any
name which has been removed and shall in such case issue a fresh
certificate of registration to the person concerned.
(2) Any restoration to the register made under subsection (1)
shall be published in the Gazette under the hand of the registrar.
PART V
APPEALS
Appeal to Minister against decision of Board to be final
17. (1) Any person aggrieved by any decision made or condition
or restriction imposed by the Board may, within one month of the
decision being made or condition or restriction being imposed,
appeal therefrom to the Minister.
(2) 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
18. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) an appeal shall not
stay the operation of any decision of the Board.
14 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180
(2) 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).
(3) 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.
(4) 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.
PART VI
GENERAL
Board may require information
19. (1) The Board may from time to time call for such information
as it may require to be furnished by every person whose name is
on the register and such person shall furnish the information within
one month of being required so to do.
(2) 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
20. (1) For the purposes of this Act where any particulars are or
information is—
(a) required by the Board; or
(b) 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) 15
(2) 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
21. (1) Every person who—
(a) 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
(b) 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.
(2) Any person who—
(a) wilfully makes or causes to be made any false entry in
the register;
(b) knowingly furnishes false particulars or information to
the Board; or
(c) contravenes any provision of this Act for which no penalty
is provided,
is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not
exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding twelve months or to both.
16 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180
Power of Minister to make regulations
22. The Minister may make regulations to prescribe anything
required by this Act to be prescribed and for the better carrying
out of the provisions of this Act and, without prejudice to the
generality of this section, the regulations may provide for—
(a) the procedure at meetings and other proceedings of the
Board;
(b) the prescription of minimum educational qualifications
and other requirements for admission to training centres;
(c) the training of persons intending to be registered as medical
assistants and the approval of institutions to be training
centres;
(d) the conduct of examinations and matters ancillary thereto
or connected therewith;
(e) the fees to be paid for examinations, applications for
registration, issue certificates of registration and renewals
thereof;
(f) the fees to be paid to examiners;
(g) the form of application for certificates of registration and
renewals thereof and the requirements to be complied
with;
(h) the qualifications requisite for registration as medical
assistants and the grounds on which registration and renewal
thereof may be refused;
(i) the form, maintenance and publication of the register the
form of certificates of registration and renewals thereof;
(j) the removal of names from and the restoration of names
to the register;
(k) 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;
(l) the prescription and the nature of duties to be performed
by medical assistants.
Medical Assistants (Registration) 17
LAWS OF MALAYSIA
Act 180
MEDICAL ASSISTANTS (REGISTRATION) ACT 1977
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
18 Laws of Malaysia ACT 180
LAWS OF MALAYSIA
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
Part II Act A621 31-05-1985
3 Act A621 31-05-1985
Part III Act A621 31-05-1985
6 Act A621 31-05-1985
7 Act A621 31-05-1985
8 Act A621 14-02-1980,
01-11-1980
18 Act A621 31-05-1985
21 Act A621 31-05-1985
22 Act A621 14-02-1980,
01-11-1980
DICETAK OLEH
PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BERHAD,
KUALA LUMPUR
BAGI PIHAK DAN DENGAN PERINTAH KERAJAAN MALAYSIA
