Parlt Backs Medical Bill

Parliament today gave an utmost support to the Minister for Health, Jelta Wong for amending the Medical Registration Amendment Bill 2021 for a Second Reading.

The Medical Registration Act was enacted in Parliament in 1980, which used to regulate and register all different cadres of health professionals in the country.

The law sets out the requirements of health professional registration and the standard under which they are to practice.

However, the law on the other hand gives confident and reassurance to the public of the health professionals' expertise in delivery of safe and quality health services.
Minister Wong when giving his speech clarified that the law restricted the registration of medical doctors to only graduates of UPNG and foreign-trained doctors.

"This is the reason why the graduates of Divine Word University who are trained to become doctors cannot be registered under the Medical Registration Act of 1980,” Minister Wong said.

He said the amendments include Section 4 of the Medical Registration Act 1980 referred to as the 'Principal Act' to be amended to include a registered medical officer from the Faculty of Medicine of Divine Word University who will represent it's graduate.

“Amend Section 21 of the Medical Registration Act to incorporate medical officers graduating from Divine Word University or any other universities graduating medical officers in the future.”

The final amendment will be done on Section 33 of the Medical Registration Act 1980 to incorporate dental medical officers graduating from Divine Word University or any other universities graduating medical officers in the future.

Author: 
Freddy Mou