Sarawak-born given priority for healthcare jobs in home state: Adham

KUALA LUMPUR – The Health Ministry has always given Sarawak-born candidates priority when it comes to filling up vacancies for jobs in the state’s health facilities, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.

Citing an example, Adham said all 74 Sarawak-born officers out of the 94 cohort officers for 2017 were absorbed as permanent staff and stationed in Sarawak in April 2020.

“Through the provision of the Medical Act 1971, the government has an obligation to allocate placements for medical graduates to provide them with experience through graduate training programmes or compulsory service with the government,” he said, adding that those on contract service were given placements without being subject to permanent position employment.

“Consideration for permanent appointment is made separately from time to time, after the officer completes their compulsory service or graduate training, taking into account job vacancies and officers fulfilling the required conditions and merits of these appointments, as set by the evaluation committee." he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Adham said this in reply to a question from Alice Lau Kiong Yieng (PH-Lanang) who wanted to know if priority is given to medical officers from Sarawak to fill vacancies there, and the latest status for contract appointments.

As to the latest on contract appointments, Adham said that in September 2020, the government had agreed to offer a one-off six-month contract extension to 79 medical officers.

He said the additional six-month contract extension was given on top of the previous six-month contract, to ensure continuity of services and help curb the spread of Covid-19. 

“The contract extension is a manifestation of the government’s thoughtfulness in enabling officers to continue delivering services despite the current challenging economic situation, taking into account the government's financial capability,” he said.

Meanwhile, Adham said the government is in the midst of rightsizing as an approach to downsize and restructure, from time to time, based on service requirements.

He said the government had also created 10,675 additional positions in the ministry in phases to meet the needs of new and upgraded facilities yet to be fully operational. – Bernama, November 24, 2020