s 59I Unfitness to practise medicine through illness, etc.
59I.—(1) Where a Health Committee determines that a registered medical practitioner’s fitness to practise medicine is impaired by reason of the registered medical practitioner’s physical or mental condition, the Health Committee may take one or more of the following actions:(a) by order suspend his registration in the appropriate register for such period not exceeding 12 months as may be specified in the order; (b) where the registered medical practitioner is a fully registered medical practitioner in Part I of the Register of Medical Practitioners — by order remove his name from Part I of that Register and register him instead as a medical practitioner with conditional registration in Part II of that Register, and section 21(4), (6), (7), (8) and (9) applies accordingly; (c) where the registered medical practitioner is registered in any register other than Part I of the Register of Medical Practitioners — by order impose additional appropriate conditions or restrictions on his registration or vary the conditions or restrictions already imposed under section 21, 23 or 24, as the case may be; (d) recommend to the Medical Council that the name of the registered medical practitioner be removed from the appropriate register; (e) order that the registered medical practitioner pay to the Medical Council costs and expenses of and incidental to any inquiry or hearing by the Health Committee and, where applicable, an Interim Orders Committee. (2) Where the Medical Council accepts the recommendation of the Health Committee under subsection (1)(d), the Medical Council must by order remove the name of the registered medical practitioner from the appropriate register and that order takes effect from the date the order is made. (3) Where a registered medical practitioner, in respect of whom an order under subsection (1)(b) or (c), (4) or (5)(b) or section 59L(1)(b) or 59N(1)(d) is made, is determined by a Health Committee to have failed to comply with any of the requirements imposed on him as conditions or restrictions of his registration, the Health Committee may, if it thinks fit, by order suspend his registration in the appropriate register for such period not exceeding 12 months as may be specified in the order. (4) Where a Health Committee has made an order for suspension under subsection (1)(a) or (3), the Health Committee may make an order under subsection (1)(b) or (c), to take effect from the expiration of the current period of suspension. (5) Where a Health Committee has made an order for suspension under subsection (1)(a) or (3) against a person and that person has failed to comply with that order, the Health Committee may, if it thinks fit —(a) make a recommendation mentioned in subsection (1)(d) to the Medical Council, and subsection (2) applies accordingly; or (b) make an order under subsection (1)(b) or (c), to take effect immediately after the expiration of the current period of suspension. (6) Where a Health Committee has made an order under subsection (1)(b) or (c), the Health Committee or another Health Committee appointed in its place may, on its own motion or on the application of the Medical Council or the registered medical practitioner, revoke the order or revoke or vary any of the conditions or restrictions imposed by the order. (7) An application under subsection (6) must not be made in respect of the same registered medical practitioner more than once in any period of 12 months. (8) Where a Health Committee has made an order (including a revocation of the order or a revocation or variation of any condition or restriction imposed by the order) under this section, the Registrar must immediately serve on the person to whom the order applies a notice of the order or of the revocation or variation. (9) While a person’s registration in a register is suspended by virtue of this section, the person is to be treated as not being registered in the register even though the person’s name still appears in it. (10) Section 59A(3) to (13) applies, with the necessary modifications, to a Health Committee as it applies to a Disciplinary Tribunal appointed under section 58 and for this purpose —(a) a reference in those provisions to a Disciplinary Tribunal is a reference to the Health Committee; and (b) a reference in those provisions to the President of the Disciplinary Commission is a reference to the Medical Council. (11) Any person who is aggrieved by an order (including a revocation of the order or a revocation or variation of any condition or restriction imposed by the order) made under this section may, within 30 days after the service on the person of the notice of the order, appeal to the Minister whose decision is final. (12) Any order (including a revocation of the order or a revocation or variation of any condition or restriction imposed by the order) made under this section takes effect from the date the order, revocation or variation is made unless the Minister decides otherwise.[Act 34 of 2020 wef 01/07/2022]