Malaysia: Public consultations on allied health professions and stem cell guidelines

19 Sept 2023   2 minute read
Sectors Healthcare & Life Sciences

In brief

The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) is carrying out two public consultations on: (1) governance framework for the unregulated allied health professions in Malaysia; and (2) new edition of guidelines on stem cell and cell-based research and therapy.

The deadlines to respond to the public consultations are 30 September 2023 and 4 October 2023 respectively.   

In more detail

Allied health professions

Coming into operation on 1 July 2020, the Allied Health Professions Act 2016 (AHPA) currently regulates 16 professions, namely audiologist, dietitian, entomologist (public health), physiotherapist, medical physicist, nutritionist, clinical psychologist, diagnostic radiographer, medical laboratory scientist, occupational therapist, speech-language therapist, radiation therapist, medical laboratory technologist, dental technologist, environmental health officer and health education officer.

MOH has now identified the following 6 areas of allied health professions as unregulated, whether under AHPA or other legislation in Malaysia:

  • Cardiovascular technology
  • Perfusion
  • Sonography
  • Music therapy
  • Genetic counselling
  • Prosthetics and orthotics

("Identified Professions")

The current public consultation seeks to explore the different options of governance framework for the Identified Professions, namely status quo, self-regulation, co-regulation, explicit government regulation or non-regulatory.

Click here for the consultation document and to respond to the public consultation by 30 September 2023.

Stem cell guidelines

MOH is seeking feedback and comments on the draft Guidelines on Stem Cell and Cell-Based Research and Therapy.

This draft is slated to be the third edition of the guidelines, which will replace the current edition published more than 10 years ago in July 2009, known as the Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy.

The new edition of the draft guidelines provides a lot more guidance than the current edition. The following areas are addressed specifically in more detail:

  • Stem cell types and research recommendations
  • Cell and tissue therapies for non-homologous use
  • Pre-clinical or non-clinical testing recommendations for advanced therapeutics
  • Current legislation and guidelines of cell and gene therapy products (CGTPs) in Malaysia 
  • Checklist for research on stem cell and cell-based therapies

Click here to respond to the public consultation by 4 October 2023.

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