The Malaysian Medical Council cannot take action against doctors involved in botch cosmetic surgeries if no complainants step forward to lodge a report, Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said.
In the case of Datin Fatimah Wan Chik, wife of Labuan incumbent Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman, who had been in coma since she got into complications from a cosmetic surgery she had undergone at a clinic in Klang on Jan 9, he said the MMC had received a written explanation from the doctor who did the cosmetic surgery.
“But we cannot do anything if no one lodges a complaint,” said the Health Ministry director-general and MMC president Dr Ismail.
He said this after launching the book Medical Ethics, Etiquette and Law by Dr Abdul-Hamid Abdul-Kadir here yesterday.
Fatimah had been on life-support since Jan 18, after she had undergone a tummy tuck, liposuction and surgery for her eye bags.
Dr Abdul-Hamid, who is the MMC Ethics Committee chairman, said currently the law requires a complainant to come forward before any action can be taken against the doctor.
“We cannot act based on hearsay,” he said, adding that nevertheless MMC is taking action to prevent such thing from happening again.
Many doctors lack ethical knowledge because medical schools do not emphasis on that and the book is the first of its kind for medical students and young doctors, he said.
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