Another doctor's Annual Practising Certificate, RM20 sick notes, eight months of consultations: the Immigration raid on a Subang Bestari clinic, June 2026

In Malaysia a doctor must hold registration with the Malaysian Medical Council and renew an Annual Practising Certificate (APC) every year before treating patients. The Immigration Department's raid on a private clinic in Subang Bestari, Selangor, in June 2026 showed what an APC is worth when it belongs to someone else.

According to The Star, the Immigration Department raided the premises on 25 June 2026 after intelligence gathered over a month-long investigation and arrested a Pakistani man suspected of working as an unlicensed doctor. The New Straits Times and The Vibes reported that the officers came from the department's Intelligence and Special Operations Division at its Putrajaya headquarters. The New Straits Times reported that the clinic was believed to have operated for about eight months, that the man lacked the qualifications to perform a doctor's duties, and that the clinic issued medical certificates at RM20 each without any examination or health assessment. The Vibes, citing the department's statement and Sinar Harian, reported that the clinic used another person's APC and medical qualifications to deceive patients and regulators, and that the man was believed to have been hired by a foreigner with no valid permission to work in Malaysia's medical sector.

Items seized included medical equipment, the suspect's name stamp, the clinic's stamp, tablets, business record books, an Annual Practising Certificate and Companies Commission of Malaysia documents, the NST reported. The Star reported that the man had no valid pass or travel document, was detained under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and was taken to the department's headquarters in Putrajaya; a local woman was issued a notice to appear and assist the investigation. All three outlets carried the department's statement that this was the fourth case since 2024 of a foreign national impersonating or working as an unlicensed doctor in Malaysia.

The mechanism was borrowed paper. Another doctor's APC, a company registration and a name stamp: the paperwork a walk-in patient or an inspector might glance at looked real, and the certificate, according to the department, was not his. The cheap sick notes were the product; the consultations were the cover.

For students in Malaysia, including the many foreign students who use cheap private clinics near their campuses, the practical check is the Malaysian Medical Council's online register: search the doctor's name and compare the registration number with the APC the clinic shows you. A clinic that sells medical certificates without examining you is breaking the law whoever is behind the desk, and a certificate from such a clinic can get a student into trouble with a university or employer. Complaints about private clinics go to the Ministry of Health, and suspected impersonation to the MMC.