On Wednesday, the board said it had commissioned an independent review of the chaperone system to assess whether it was keeping patients safe.

The probe comes after Fairfax Media revealed three patients were allegedly molested by Victorian doctor Andrew Churchyard while he was meant to be working with a chaperone at Cabrini Hospital last year. In one case, the doctor allegedly assaulted a patient behind a curtain while the chaperone was in the room.

Fairfax Media also discovered that 46 doctors were currently being chaperoned in Australia because of allegations they breached sexual boundaries. The doctors' names are kept secret unless a patient notices a doctor has a chaperone and then looks up their details on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency's register of practitioners.

A statement on the medical board's website says the review will be led by Professor Ron Paterson, an international expert on patients' rights, complaints, healthcare quality and the regulation of health professions.

Professor Paterson was New Zealand's Health and Disability Commissioner for a decade and New Zealand's Parliamentary Ombudsman for three years until recently. He is also a Professor of Law at the University of Auckland and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Melbourne Law School.

"The Medical Board of Australia and AHPRA have patient and public safety as their number one objective," the statement said.

"We will report to health ministers on the outcomes of the review and commit to full transparency in how we respond to its recommendations."

Former Victorian Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson called for the chaperone system to be scrapped and Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said it should be reviewed. Ms Hennessy said she was "extremely concerned" about the allegations against Dr Churchyard, who is now accused of molesting more than 35 patients over 13 years.

The neurologist was charged with indecently assaulting a patient, but took his own life in July before the case reached court.

The board said of Australia's 106,857 registered medical practitioners, 47 have chaperoning restrictions on their registration.

"Chaperoning restrictions are used as an interim measure while investigations into allegations of serious misconduct continue. Restrictions are published on the online register of practitioners and compliance is actively monitored by AHPRA," the board said.

"We encourage all Australians to look up their registered health practitioner and see the details of their registration at www.ahpra.gov.au. If there are restrictions, they will be published on the register."

If anyone has concerns about the care they have received from a registered health practitioner, contact AHPRA on 1300 419 495.