PUTRAJAYA: In a move to stop bullying and toxic work culture within the Health Ministry, government hospital directors will soon have their performances evaluated by their peers and subordinates, says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The Health Minister said currently, the ministry’s '360 evaluation' system only covered the top management, in which hospital directors were only assessed by their superiors.
"This is subject to the approval of the Public Service Department, although I feel there would not be any issue with it.
"We want to expand our 360 evaluation system so that it covers all levels in the ministry.
"So these hospital directors are not just assessed by their bosses, but also their peers and those working under them.
"This will help us to detect cases of bullying. If there are top level officers who do not have good relationships with their subordinates, we can find out through the 360 evaluation system," said Khairy, during a media interview.
The minister said the evaluation system would be expanded gradually until even heads of departments and specialists would be subject to peer assessment.
Khairy said this was one of the recommendations made by the Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Task Force (HWCITF), which was set up in May this year following complaints of toxic work culture and bullying of junior doctors at government hospitals.
Starting Oct 1, Khairy said a dedicated complaint line called "MyHelp@KKM" will be opened for medical staff to lodge reports against bullying incidents in the workplace.
"Before this, there was no clear mechanism for junior medical officers to complain about workplace bullying.
"This dedicated complaint line will make it easier for them to lodge reports against bullying incidents or anything related with the toxic work culture.
"We will be able to take immediate action in a more transparent manner. Privacy of the person who lodged the report is also guaranteed," said Khairy.
