Legal action on unregistered traditional medicine practitioners

Starting tomorrow, traditional medicine practitioners who are not registered with the Health Ministry may be subject to legal action including fines and imprisonment.

Dr Tajul Iqmal Tajul Arus said this applies to individuals who practise traditional and complementary medicine without a valid practice certificate or do not display the valid certificate.

The principle assistant director of the Health Ministry’s Traditional and Complementary Medicine Division said the legal action falls under the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act 2016 (Act 775).

“Earlier, during the transition period from March 1, 2021 to February 28, 2025, we placed more emphasis on the educational approach to the enforcement of this act.

“From March 1, 2025, we will begin legal action against traditional and complementary medicine practitioners in recognised fields of practice who are found to have violated and committed offences under this act,” Tajul said.

He was speaking during a media briefing session on the enforcement of the act in Kuala Lumpur today.

Under the act, a person who is not a registered practitioner cannot practice traditional medicine and can be fined not more than RM30,000 or imprisoned not more than two years or both for the first offence.

For a subsequent offence, they can be fined not exceeding RM50,000, or imprisoned not exceeding three years, or both.

The same punishment is also imposed on individuals who make false or misleading statements regarding traditional and complementary medicine services.

Tajul said that as of Feb 25, his department received 18,802 registration applications from traditional and complementary medicine practitioners nationwide, covering seven recognised areas of practice.

The seven areas of practice currently recognised by the Health Ministry are:

1. Traditional Malay medicine

2. Traditional Chinese medicine

3. Traditional Indian medicine

4. Homeopathy

5. Chiropractic

6. Osteopathy

7. Islamic medicine practices

As of Jan 17, he said 14,312 local traditional and complementary medicine practitioners were registered with the ministry, while 158 involved foreign practitioners, and the highest registration involved Malay traditional medicine practitioners at 4,541.

- Bernama

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