Spanner in the works.. No certified course for paramedics in Malaysia?

From The Star

Need to formalise career path for paramedics

THERE is no certified course for paramedics in Malaysia that is endorsed by the Health Ministry, Kuala Lumpur Hospital emergency and trauma department head Prof Datuk Dr Abu Hassan Asaari Abdullah (in above picture) said.

“In our current system, we are using medical assistants, which is not ideal. What we do have now are not full-fledged paramedics,” he said.

He said there was a diploma in pre-hospital care offered by the Open University Kuala Lumpur, but it had yet to be endorsed by the ministry.

He explained that the university would have to apply to the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) to get the diploma recognised.

Quoting the Medical Act 1971 Section 33 (2B), he added that only those certified by the Health Ministry were allowed to use specific medical equipment such as bandages, sphygmomano meter (to measure blood pressure), stethoscope and hypodermic syringe.

“The Government has to formalise a career path for paramedics.

“Red Crescent, St John Ambulance and the like have paramedics trained under their own courses which have also not been officially endorsed by the Government.

“However we accept it, and they also assist us in the pre-hospital services,” said Prof Abu Hassan, who is also president of the Malaysian Society of Traumatology and Emergency Medicine.

He agreed that only 50% of ambulances were well-equipped and many were old vehicles. He believes all ambulances must be equipped with automated external defibrillator (AED) and immobilisation sets.

“The Malaysian public deserves a comprehensive integrated ambulance service that is efficient so that all areas can be served well,” he said.

He pointed out that 60% of the emergency calls, however, were pranks and hoaxes and the percentage used to be as high as 90% at one time.

“Prank calls increase during school holidays. We need education to curb this problem because during real emergencies, every second counts and that is why we need to screen calls made to 999 with a few keywords to see if it is a real call,” he said.