MMA: ‘90-hour week impossible’

PETALING JAYA: It is not possible for house officers (HOs) to work 90 hours in a week with the current housemanship system, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said yesterday.

Its president, Dr H. Krishna Kumar, said they would usually work 60 to 70 hours per week and get a compulsory day off.

“However, it is known that some doctors do change their shifts to get a longer period off after working for prolonged periods of time.

“This practice is usually curtailed when the head of department or specialist in charge finds out,” he said.

Dr Krishna was responding to a letter published in The Star on Monday where the writer had urged the ministry to investigate cases of HOs being threatened and made to work up to 90 hours a week.

On a statement posted on his Facebook page yesterday, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a flexible working system implemented in 2011 required HOs to work an average 65-75 hours a week.

“Housemen are entitled to a day off per week but it is not necessary for it to fall on weekends,” he said .

Dr Krishna reminded HOs that a doctor’s life was not easy and there would be no shift duties when they became a medical officer or specialist.

Nevertheless, he said each complaint should be evaluated independently.

“If housemen have issues with work, they can always complain to the specialist in charge or department head or hospital director,” he said.

Moreover, most hospitals had HOs leaders to channel their complaints and they were also invited to the ministry to provide feedback, he said.

“Therefore, it is unfair to claim that there is no feedback or complaint mechanism,” he said.

Dr Krishna also said the intention of young people becoming doctors should also be scrutinised.

“If they are forced into it and they do not have interest in the profession, they will leave no matter what the reason is given,” he said.