PETALING JAYA: Any last-minute or random strike by public healthcare workers will never be the work of the Hartal Doktor Kontrak movement, according to a spokesperson.
Revealing that the movement leaders were set to meet Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa next week, the spokesperson said an unplanned strike by doctors would be improper as it may jeopardise the lives of patients.
The spokesperson, who is also a doctor, added that the Health Minister’s political secretary, Napsiah Khamis, had contacted them yesterday and set Feb 22 tentatively for the Hartal Doktor Kontrak leaders to meet Dr Zaliha in Putrajaya.
“We have yet to be given the agenda of the meeting and we are looking forward to it,” said the spokesperson, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“That unannounced strike which was publicised was never planned by us to begin with.
“We had not planned any strike. If we are going to hold a strike, we will ensure that a notice period is given.
“For the last strike, we gave a one-month notice and planned it so that patients were not on the receiving end,” the spokesperson added.
“As doctors, it would be unethical for us to go on an unplanned strike as we have a duty to our patients.
“We are open to meeting Dr Zaliha and will go with our main demands – to amend the EPF Act so that all of us contract doctors can be absorbed into permanent employment of the civil service.
“The Hartal Doktor Kontrak movement’s second demand would be the National Health Services Commission as promised in Pakatan Harapan’s 15th general election manifesto.
“It is not only contract doctors who are in this situation. Healthcare inspectors and many other positions on contract, who played forerunner roles during the Covid-19 pandemic, are also being laid off after their contracts end.
“Such a health services commission is therefore vital so that the ministry itself would have the power to decide on how many staffers to take in, instead of relying on the Public Service Commission,” said the spokesperson.
In its last manifesto, Pakatan promised that if it won the Federal Government, it would set up a National Health Services Commission to resolve problems with contract doctors and reinforce the management of human resources, staffing, training and career growth of healthcare staff.
In a statement on Tuesday, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said the association had heard of a possible strike by public healthcare workers.
While acknowledging that the healthcare system and its human resources had been stretched to their limits for many years, MMA did not condone the strike and urged the government to speed up reforms to address long-standing grievances.
On Jan 23, the Health Ministry announced 4,914 permanent positions for healthcare workers, including 4,200 for doctors.
