Utilising pool of reserve doctors

KOTA KINABALU: Reserves may be appointed for placements in Sabah, Sarawak and other parts of the country should contract medical officers (MOs) based in the Klang Valley reject offers to be permanently stationed in the state, says the Deputy Health Minister.

This comes following talk that many of the contract MOs who were offered permanent placements have rejected the offer to be stationed in Sabah.

Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the ministry was looking into this matter, adding that the next course of action would only be taken once it received responses to all the offer letters.

“There are about 4,900 contract doctors and MOs for the dental and pharmaceutical side that have received their appointments and placements,” he said during the launch of the national No Tobacco Day here yesterday.

There were those, admitted Lukanisman, who did not want to be placed outside the Klang Valley, including Sabah, Sarawak and other parts of the peninsula.

“We will see how the response is and then we will decide.

“If there are enough reserve candidates, we may decide to offer them the positions instead,” he said.

He said in his personal opinion, as civil servants, they have the responsibility to carry out their duties with commitment, and to be rational in their actions, adding that issues like these could be discussed on other platforms, and not on social media.

On the issue of medical staff shortage in Sabah, Lukanisman said there were mechanisms to overcome these, including the placement of those from other states.

This shortage, he added, was due to many factors, including a lower percentage of doctors and MOs graduating locally from Sabah itself.

Lukanisman said the issue of human resource shortage and infrastructure in the medical field was also mentioned in the Health White Paper.

“It could be the lack of proper infrastructure in Sabah that deters many from wanting to accept placements in Sabah or outside the main city areas,” he said.

A debate has arisen online following complaints from netizens saying they do not want to work in Sabah or Sarawak, claiming that these two states are the among the worst places in term of career growth and welfare.