The Malaysian Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences (MIMLS) welcomed the Ministry of Health Malaysia's move to appoint 1 July 2020 as the date on which the Allied Health Professions Act 2016 (Act 774) comes into operation. The Allied Health Professions Regulations (Fees) 2020 was also gazetted on the same day and came into force on the same day as the Act. 

This has been a long-awaited moment since the Act was officially gazetted on 18 February 2016. The Act will apply to the allied health professions, namely any profession which has a direct or an indirect effect on patient care or on the health of an individual or the population, as set out in the Second Schedule to the Act. The Second Schedule presently sets out a list of 23 professions including audiologist, dietitian, physiotherapist, clinical scientist and medical laboratory technologist.

The idea of having an Act to regulate the medical laboratory profession was first mooted by the Malaysian Federation of Medical Laboratory Technologists (MFMLT) - the predecessor of MIMLS in the late 1980s. The Act had undergone many changes over the last 2 decades and the finalised bill was tabled in Parliament in 16 June 2015 and received royal assent on 4 February 2016.

MIMLS is hopeful that the Act will help in improving and raising the standard of the profession. We are looking forward to the establishment of the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council (MAHPC) following the Act 774 came into force. The MAHPC is empowered under the Act to issue guidelines and directives for the purposes of implementing the provisions of the Act. Further details about the Act shall only be available after the first meeting of MAHPC and MIMLS shall provide updates once more information is available.