Strike not best solution to handle health sector issues, says Dr Noor Hisham

KUALA LUMPUR: An unplanned strike is not the best solution to any problem that arise related to the medical profession or any other profession, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Instead, the Health director-general said that the problems that arise need to be dealt with through joint involvement and in a more prudent way.

"A strike can generally cause a service to be affected for as long as it is organised. It is usually organised to convey a certain message to the relevant parties.

"However, this matter needs to be considered carefully. This is because health services are a critical service especially because it involves human lives and the well-being of the people," he said in a statement on Wednesday (March 29).

He said this in response to rumours that there will be a strike by contract doctors from April 3 to 5 and the DoctorsMalaysia Instagram page urging contract doctors nationwide to join the strike or resign en masse on April 1.

However, Dr Noor Hisham stated that the Health Ministry did not have any further information about the strike, and instead only received announcements through social media channels.

He said the government has from time to time responded to the problems and demands raised by health workers, including creating permanent staffing, sponsoring specialist training or advanced training, time-based promotions, opportunities to be promoted to special grades and creating UD56 grade for medical experts and so on.

He believed that the government will ensure that all problems and requests are evaluated in accordance with current issues and given appropriate solutions based on the country's economic capabilities.

"Alhamdulillah, health services continue to be given due priority by the government as we can see through Budget 2023: Developing Malaysia MADANI. Hopefully health services can be further strengthened in the coming year," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said health services in this country must continue to be considered as a critical sector including health workers because of the complexity, challenges, risks and hard work that health workers have to face in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that without a resilient health system, the country might not have been be able to control it well and people would not have been carry on with their normal life activities.

"Therefore, health workers who are the main assets of the Health Service need to continue to be given due attention, including appropriate remuneration for their services," he said.- Bernama