KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has revealed there are certain “black sheep” government hospitals that do not adhere to an existing system set up by the Health Ministry (MoH) to enable housemen to bring up grouses and complaints.
Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said there is also a procedure set up by the ministry whereby senior clinicians are given the task of looking after the welfare of trainee doctors.
“MoH put in place a system whereby trainee doctors could bring up grouses and complaints which would then be looked into.
“It would only be effective if every department is to employ this system, and if employed to ensure that there is no fear or favour in the handling of issues.
“But there are ‘black sheep’ hospitals which do not employ the system although there is such a system,” Dr Koh said during a press conference at the MMA headquarters here today.
However, he refused to divulge details on the non-compliant hospitals.
On May 3, The Vibes reported that a trainee doctor who was stationed at Penang Hospital early last month was believed to have died after falling from a building on April 17.
This is believed to be the second death involving a junior doctor in Penang.
In December 2020, The Vibes reported that a doctor who had resigned from the same hospital had died suddenly.
The latest incident triggered an outcry among medical practitioners, who urged the authorities to look seriously into the matter instead of dismissing it as a “common” issue.
Several doctors, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, said bullying in the medical fraternity is a pervasive problem.
In addition, Dr Koh stressed that cases of bullying had been on the rise since the increase in the number of trainee doctors in the country.
Therefore, he called on the ministry to look into all the contributing factors and address the issues faced by junior doctors, which includes bullying and harassment.
“More than six years ago there was an increase in medical graduates and we have raised this concern with MoH.
“The single major contributing factor now is the high number of medical graduates being put into the system.
“Any abuse affecting junior or senior doctors has to be reported and action taken to prevent any continuation,” he said.
Since 2016, he said, MMA has received over 120 complaints through a helpline called HelpDoc, which was launched by the association after it recognised that cases of bullying may never be reported as victims fear being singled out for further punishment.
“Out of that, 36 complaints were on bullying, while the others were work related issues like career growth, postings, transfers and others,” he said briefly without revealing more details as “it is a sensitive issue for the trainees”.
On May 6, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry will set up an independent task force to investigate the sudden death of a Penang houseman and allegations of a bullying culture in the healthcare fraternity. – The Vibes, May 10, 2022
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