In an immediate response, a health ministry official said the licensed doctors are partly to blame given their penchant for sub-contracting out their services to unqualified individuals.
Dr Ko Chung Beng, a leading specialist in aesthetic treatment, said the situation has become “very serious” given the rising number of people administering various beauty procedures in place of doctors.
“The mushrooming of unregulated aesthetics doctors can cause severe damage to the credibility of the licensed practitioners,” Ko, who founded the Ko Skin Specialist chain of clinics, said.
Unlicensed doctors now routinely carry out plastic surgeries such as breast augmentation, liposuction, botox as well as high-intensity ultrasound and laser treatment for pigmentation, acne or hair loss.
Ko, who was chairman of the recent Asia Dermatology and Aesthetic Medicine Summit 2024, said that when a patient gets infected, dies or becomes disfigured it can cause widespread panic in the country.
“People will develop a fear of seeking aesthetic treatment even from genuine doctors,” he said.
“These doctors suffer the consequences of adverse publicity. This can mar the reputation of aesthetic medicine, inflicting a negative impact on the medical tourism industry internationally,” he added.
Ko said the health ministry should ensure that there are proper regulations and enforcement to safeguard the aesthetic medicine industry that, he pointed out, was thriving.
“There is a lot of money to be made by aesthetic doctors as people are willing to spend to look beautiful and radiant,” he added.
The global aesthetic medicine market was reportedly valued at approximately US$19.2 billion (RM88.8 billion) last year, and is expected to grow further.
In Malaysia the sector recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8% from 2019 to 2021.
The domestic aesthetic medicine market was estimated to be worth about RM468.8 million in 2022, and projected to grow to RM1.03 billion by 2027.
Ko said there are more than 800 licensed aesthetic doctors in Malaysia now but thousands of others practice without a licence.
“These bogus aesthetic doctors lack the knowledge and are unhygienic and they capitalise on the gullibility of those who seek cheap treatments. Often fake medicine is used,” Ko said.
He said Malaysians tend to be overly-trusting, causing them to get cheated easily, whereas people in other countries would scrutinise the credibility of practitioners first.
“The lack of regulation further compounds the situation as the culprits get away scot-free with hit-and-run tactics, which include constantly changing their organisation’s name,” Ko said.
“On the other hand, regulated, licensed aesthetic practitioners exercise great care in treating their patients as they risk having their licences revoked,” he added.
Najmi Ismail, a principal senior assistant director of the ministry’s medical legislation unit, said some doctors would set up new branches in collaboration with bogus practitioners, to expand their business and reap profits.
He said there also were cases of licensed doctors performing tasks outside the scope of their credentials as permitted by the ministry’s letter of credentialing and privileging (LCP).
“I urge these doctors to uphold their professionalism when advocating advanced technologies and procedures, by upgrading their LCP status,” he said at the summit.