PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Doctors who practise aesthetic medicine will have to go through a training module to ensure they are suitably qualified. And it could take up to three years.

The Health Ministry will soon draw up a training module for aesthetic medicine and doctors who undergo the programme will be acknowledged as specialists.

Its director-general, Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican, said the ministry and The Academy of Medicine Malaysia did not recognise the field as a sub-speciality now.

"While this is pending, we will not allow a person to call himself an aesthetic specialist," he told reporters yesterday.

And clinics that use the word "aesthetic" on their signboards must remove it. They could, however, include it in their list of services, he added.

"All doctors have to undergo this three year training locally and overseas before they can claim to be a sub specialist," Dr Ismail said.

He also revealed a case where a doctor underwent a five-day course and received a certificate.

An additional five days gained him a diploma, he added.

"We have characters like that in our midst," he said.

From now on, doctors who offer aesthetic procedures must produce proof of their training and qualifications to the ministry's medical practice division before they are allowed to carry out the procedures.

Currently, 60 establishments have applied for the approval.

"Our role is not to be restrictive but it is our responsibility to the public. Patient safety overrides everything else," Dr Ismail added.