Proposal to beat MC abuse

PETALING JAYA: The government should make it compulsory for every medical certificate (MC) to be imprinted with doctor's Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) registration number to curb medical absenteeism in the country.
Malaysia Medical Association president Dr H Krishna Kumar said such move will make it easier for relevant authorities to keep track if there are any cases of MC abuse.
"A doctor's personal MMC registration number can be accessed through its website. By having the number printed on MCs, it can directly lead to doctors who are responsible in the abuse," he told theSun.
He added although such move has been implemented on doctors in government sectors, private medical practitioners are not required to do so.
Dr H. Krishna was responding to a report stating that the Health Ministry is mulling in having every MC issued bearing a serial number and security printing to detect counterfeit or fake medical leave certificates.
He said although the move can be implemented, it will incur extra cost to the patient.
"Such action, if implemented, will hit more the patient's pocket as the cost of MC will be added to the medical fees," he said.
He added that printing serial number on MC does not mean anything as details of the doctors can be revealed from their own MMC registration number.
He said that MMC can come up with a set of guidelines to regulate the method.
It was reported that employees taking MCs were causing employers to lose RM2.9 billion a year in overtime payments to workers replacing those on medical leave.
Then there is the additional RM1.92 billion in wages paid to workers who were on MC and did not work besides the RM3.3 billion to settle their medical bills.
The media had also reported on employees who fake sicknesses to obtain MCs, syndicates selling MCs and also on errant doctors selling MCs.