Is She Really a Doctor? How to Verify the Registration of Doctors and Healthcare Professionals in Malaysia

Someone can put on a white coat, hang a certificate on the clinic wall, and call themselves a “doctor” — but only one thing truly confirms their credentials: their name appearing in the official register. In Malaysia, every doctor, nurse, pharmacist and physiotherapist must be registered with the body that regulates their profession. The good news is that you can check this yourself, for free.

How do I check whether a doctor is registered?

The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) provides an online search engine called MeRITS. Go to merits.mmc.gov.my/search, then search by name, the institution where the doctor graduated, place of practice, or type of registration. If the name does not appear, that is a serious red flag.

Bear in mind: being registered alone is not enough. A doctor must also hold a currently valid Annual Practising Certificate (APC). Renewing the APC requires proof of continuing professional development (a minimum of 20 CPD points per cycle) and professional indemnity insurance.

What types of registration exist?

The MMC offers four categories. The type of registration tells you the degree of freedom a doctor has to practise.

Type of registration	What it means
Provisional	New graduates undergoing supervised training (housemanship)
Full	Can practise independently without supervision
Specialist	Required to practise as a specialist in a particular field
Temporary Practising Certificate (TPC)	Foreign practitioners for training, research or clinical activities

What about nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists?

Each profession has its own body and its own Act. The principle is the same: they must be registered, and they must hold a current practising certificate.

• Nurses — registered by the Malaysian Nursing Board under the Nurses Act 1950. Nurses require an Annual Practising Certificate to practise.
• Pharmacists — registered by the Pharmacy Board Malaysia under the Registration of Pharmacists Act 1951 (Act 371), with an annual retention certificate.
• Allied health professions (physiotherapy, dietetics, occupational therapy, audiology and others) — regulated by the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council (MAHPC) under the Allied Health Professions Act 2016 (Act 774).

For allied health, the transitional registration period has been extended until 31 December 2026. After that date, anyone practising without valid registration and an APC commits an offence and may be subject to legal action.

What should I ask a practitioner for?

You have the right to ask. The simplest approach:

1. Ask for the practitioner’s full name and registration number.
2. Check that number against the official register of the relevant regulatory body.
3. Make sure the practising certificate (APC/retention certificate) is still within its valid period, not merely that they were once registered.
4. For specialists, confirm that their name is listed in the National Specialist Register, not just holding ordinary full registration.

What’s next

Start with a MeRITS search for any doctor — it is free and takes less than a minute. For nurses, pharmacists and allied health professions, contact the respective board or council through the official portal of the Ministry of Health Malaysia to confirm their status. If you suspect that someone is practising without qualifications or is facing professional misconduct, report it to that profession’s regulatory body, which holds disciplinary powers under its Act. As a basic rule: if the name does not exist in the register, do not place your health in their hands.