KUALA LUMPUR – Overwhelmed, overworked, underpaid and not duly compensated.
These are among the complaints by medical frontliners, who feel their voices are not being heard by the authorities, according to a survey conducted by Projek Wawasan Rakyat and Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia.
The project, dubbed “Dengar sini! Kisah frontliners” (Listen here! Frontliners’ tale), was presented on Wednesday, with a collection of 30 testimonies by local frontliners via anonymous online feedback forms.
Twenty-five respondents said they are overwhelmed by the high number of Covid-19 cases daily. Only two said they do not feel this way, while the others are either on the fence or did not provide a response.
Separately, 21 of the 30 frontliners feel that those in power are ignoring their problems and pleas for more help.
One of the respondents said a single medical officer now has to take care of up to 30 patients, with little assistance from nurses due to a lack of staff, and uncooperative patients compounding their problem.
“It is not easy. There is no help, no support. We have to don personal protective equipment for hours and provide treatment. It’s exhausting.”
The individual went on to say healthcare workers have lost their on-call allowance due to clocking in extra hours to battle the pandemic, and that the Covid-19 allowance provided by the government is not even half of what they used to earn.
It is also claimed that it is now “taboo” within the healthcare fraternity to take medical or emergency leave, even if it is justifiable.
Another respondent said many are forced to put in double shifts due to colleagues testing positive for the coronavirus or being placed in isolation, and that most of the staff are physically and mentally exhausted.
Yet another respondent said there is a long list of backlogged cases in the emergency unit, while many pointed out a lack of new staff, beds and other equipment to handle the high number of Covid-19 infections.
“It is a punishing working environment, and (we are) underpaid,” one said.
These responses were read out during the survey presentation by prominent activists and civil society advocates, including Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Datin Marina Mahathir, Adam Adli Abdul Halim and S. Arutchelvan.
The responses were by doctors, medical officers and specialists, pharmacists, and emergency room staff assigned to various hospitals nationwide, including Sg Buloh Hospital.
A common theme among the responses is that those in power must listen to frontliners’ grievances.
Being on the ground, they said, front-line staff would know better than those working in high office, and that it is important that their voices be heard so that the welfare of workers and patients is taken care of.
“At the moment, they are imposing bullish rules on us, restricting resources for us to work efficiently, and silencing us from within,” said a respondent.
“These so-called higher authorities just brush off our questions and requests for help, and apply blanket rules on everything and every patient.” – The Vibes, January 29, 2021
