KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of the Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) system, which is aimed at reducing the total working hours of medical officers (MOs) and specialists, will be discussed at an ongoing higher management retreat, says the Health Ministry.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said with the system, the working hours will be reduced from 99 to 72 hours a week.
He said this is to ensure that MOs and specialists are not overworked while improving their work-life balance, as well as serving the people better.
Dzulkefly said the WBB implementation will be discussed in detail during the three-day retreat that is being held until tomorrow.
“So, give us some time to come up with an outcome because we have to iron out all the issues, including the allowance.
“Among others, the retreat will also discuss human resources issues, improving delivery of services and the imbalance in distribution of health staff workforce,” he said yesterday.
Dzulkefly said the WBB is the third work schedule system after the on-call and shift systems.
On the leaked circular about the WBB project, he explained it was guidelines for its pilot run on Feb 1.
But in order for the WBB to be implemented, he said, the ministry’s secretary-general and the Health Department director-general will be responsible for issuing an order.
“At the moment, neither has signed the order. We will see the outcome of the retreat, and then a decision can be made,” he added.
Dzulkefly said the WBB system was crafted after an engagement session on Jan 22, 2024, involving several MOs and specialists.
On Thursday, news about the WBB pilot project, which caps on-call shifts at 18 hours in order to cut down from the current limit of between 24 and 33 hours, made headlines.
According to a circular signed by the ministry’s medical development division director Datuk Dr Mohd Azman Yacob, the ministry had tabled the WBB system with the Public Service Department on Dec 5, 2024.
Mohd Azman said the WBB is being introduced to improve officers’ quality of life and to ensure doctors attending to patients are not exhausted from long working hours.
Their on-call allowance rate has also been raised by between RM55 and RM65 as announced in Budget 2025.
However, with the WBB, their take-home pay will be less as they will only be able to claim for active calls on weekends and public holidays, and not for weekday shifts.
Under the system, the active on-call rates for weekdays and public holidays are RM275 for MOs and RM315 for specialists.
The pilot run will begin at seven hospitals on Feb 1 for three months. It will be expanded in the second phase, which will include surgery and anaesthesiology.
The third phase, which will begin later this year, will be the stabilisation and observation phase.
In response, the contract doctors’ movement Hartal Doktor Kontrak has called for the immediate retraction of the WBB shift system circular.
In a statement on Thursday, it said this had caused “unprecedented outrage” among the medical community as the ministry announced it without prior engagement with key stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Medical Association raised concerns about the implementation of the WBB, saying it would exacerbate existing manpower shortages, causing doctors to be overworked and affecting the quality of patient care.
