Abusive behaviour against medical personnel alarming: MMA

KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has expressed deep concern at reports of abusive behaviour towards healthcare workers involving some of the family members of patients at Selayang Hospital.

Its president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz said there should be zero tolerance towards any form of abusive behaviour, especially at healthcare facilities. 

Referring to a recent report published by CodeBlue, she noted that persistent overcrowding and staff shortages causing long waits at the departments concerned are among the main contributing factors to the stressful work environment.

“Healthcare workers at the Selayang Hospital’s emergency and green zone departments are facing patients and family members angered by the long hours waiting to be attended to.” 

“It is deeply concerning that healthcare workers there are starting to fear for their safety when carrying out their duties under such work conditions,” she said in a statement.

“To prevent any further untoward incidents from occurring, we urge the Health Ministry (MoH) to urgently address the maldistribution issue of its healthcare workforce at Selayang Hospital as well as all public healthcare facilities throughout the country. 

Azizan also conveyed MMA’s fears that many other overcrowded public healthcare facilities would be facing similar issues.

“While there should be zero tolerance towards abusive behaviour, we should also ensure that the public healthcare experience is pleasant and truly reflective of Malaysia’s reputation as having one of the best healthcare systems in the world. 

“It is imperative that the MoH is completely transparent with regards to the distribution of its healthcare workforce,” she said.

MMA reiterated that the workforce distribution should be data-driven and mapped according to workload at each health facility. 

This mapping of services would also better inform the public on the realities faced by healthcare workers on the ground with regards to staffing issues so that the public’s expectations are better managed, Azizan said.

She added that with the tabling of Budget 2024 around the corner, MMA hopes that a significant amount will be allocated for the expansion and development of the public healthcare workforce to overcome these issues. 

It is also time the government give more serious consideration to MMA’s suggestion to decongest the public healthcare system by outsourcing its non-communicable disease (NCD) management to the 13,000 private GPs nationwide through a public-private collaboration. 

“The government's Skim Madani is a good programme which should be expanded to include NCD management,” she said. “We however hope that discussions with key stakeholders will be held from the planning stages to ensure smooth implementation.” – The Vibes, September 29, 2023