The Irish Medical Council has undertaken accreditation inspections of Irish medical schools on a regular basis since 1996. This document is a summary of the accreditation standards, a guide to the process for those involved and an overview of the complexity of the many elements involved in educating a doctor. It should be read in conjunction with previous Medical Council publications on medical education. It also provides the basis for the Evaluation System for Visitors 2003. The Medial Council's prime role is the protection of the public interest in relation to the practice of medicine. The Medical Council scrutinises medical schools. It has an important advocacy role with government, with the universities which operate medical schools and with the professionals involved to improve the standards and delivery of medical education.
The Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredits both Australian and New Zealand (NZ) medical courses and also college specialist training programmes. The common accreditation process allows mutual recognition of basic medical training and vocational training between Australia and New Zealand. The ultimate purpose of accreditation assure stakeholders including medical registration boards, health departments, students/trainees and the general community of the quality of the programs and the competence of those completing such training. AMC revised its own accreditation guidelines using the WFME standards as the model around which the new AMC standards were developed. The College Accreditation Process is similar to and builds on AMC experience in the medical school accreditation process. In conclusion, AMC accreditation has been successful in improving medical education in Australia and New Zealand and has been able to do so without the imposition of any exclusive educational model or philosophy.
Members of the medical profession are expected to be well aware and abide by the revised code of ethics adopted by the Malaysian Medical Council on 9th December 1986. Under the Act Council may, in the exercise of its disciplinary jurisdiction, impose punishments related to misconduct or malpractices. When a complaint or information is made against any practitioner, the President shall forward such complaint to the Chairman of the Preliminary Investigation Committee. The procedure of the disciplinary inquiry is not exactly like those in the court of law but the same principle of justice is adhered to and all evidence used to make a decision must only be those that are admissible in accordance with the rule of evidence.
The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) operates under the Medical Act of 1971, which defines its core functions related to (a) the registration and practice of medical practitioners (b) the period of compulsory service (c) provisions to be enacted for purposes of (a) and (b). In the early years the MMC used the list of recognised colleges or Universities that appeared in the list of degrees recognised by the General Medical Council of United Kingdom (GMC). Over the years the MMC has undertaken the role of granting recognition to other medical schools in the country and overseas, and added the name of these schools to the existing register of recognised medical degrees in the second schedule of the Act. For the purpose of recognition of medical schools the MMC endorsed a guideline on standards and procedures on accreditation developed in 1996, which was later realigned with international and regional guidelines, in 2000 and 2001. It is recommended that the MMC establishes an active functional 'Education Committee' and that the role of MMC in medical education should be clearly and explicitly stated in the Act. An amendment to the Act would require the MMC to be responsible not only for undergraduate medical education but medical education in its entire phase.
This paper attempts to sensitize the participants to understand the benefits of looking at the regulations of accreditation for medical courses in the neighbouring nearby countries. Deregulation of Medical Education like what they have done will bring enormous revenue benefits for the existing assets like the airports, hospitals, hotels resorts and the communication infrastructure of Malaysia.