KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) welcomed the government’s initiative to resolve the issue of contract doctors.
“It is a good move by the government to create 4,186 permanent positions for medical officers, dental officers, and pharmacists for this year and to continue doing so with 1,500 permanent positions per year starting next year to 2025,” MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said.
He said the creation of 800 permanent positions for medical specialists as well as 70 dental specialists on an annual basis from 2023 onwards is certainly welcome.
“We hope that with this creation of permanent positions coupled with increased opportunities to specialise, the situation will gradually ease till our healthcare system can cope with the large number of medical graduates,” Dr Koh said.
He noted that the abundance of medical institutions both within and abroad that annually churn out large numbers of medical graduates, coupled with a local healthcare system unprepared to absorb them in toto, were mainly why Malaysia has a high number of contract doctors.
Nonetheless, Dr Koh said Malaysia is gradually seeing more medical graduates crucial to the improvement of healthcare services in the country.
The Health Ministry (MOH) recently announced that 8,000 permanent positions for health practitioners would be created from 2022 until 2025 to resolve the issue of contract doctors.
Meanwhile, former MMA president Dr N.G. Baskaran said the step taken would also solve the shortage of doctors in the country and described the offer of permanent positions as a tribute to the contract doctors who have been frontline workers against Covid-19.
“Malaysia lacks specialists in various fields. Giving these doctors permanent appointments is one of the ways to upgrade them to specialists, so that they can provide better services to the country.
“Previously, contract doctors could continue their studies on their own, taking exams and paying for themselves. Now with permanent positions, there is an opportunity to become specialists in various fields (with the studies borne by the government),” he said.
Grade UD43 contract medical officer Dr Mohamad Faisal Mohammed Nasim said MoH’s announcement was in line with what contract doctors had spoken of during the protests last year.
“We asked for permanent appointments and a way to get full scholarships for specialist training . Now what we asked for, the government is amenable to it…at least we are going in the right direction,” he said. – Bernama, February 13, 2022
