KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) shift system has been cancelled by the Cabinet pending further studies by the government, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
According to Dzulkefly, this was decided after a Cabinet meeting on Friday (Jan 24).
“The Cabinet decided to cancel the pilot WBB project to allow a more thorough and comprehensive study,” said Dr Dzulkefly in a brief statement issued on Friday (Jan 24) night.
Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry has set up a special task force that will be chaired by Tan Sri Abu Bakar Suleiman.
“The terms of reference of this task force are in relation to strengthening the delivery of healthcare services to the people and the scheduling of working hours.
“The Health Ministry will continue its efforts to foster a safer and fairer workplace for all, especially healthcare workers,” he added.
There have been calls for the immediate retraction of the WBB shift system circular.
Under the pilot project, doctors and dentists at selected government healthcare facilities will see their on-call shifts capped at 18 hours, down from the current limit of between 24 and 33.
Under Budget 2025, it was also announced that their on-call allowance rate has been raised by between RM55 and RM65.
With the WBB system, the take-home pay of doctors and dentists at selected government healthcare facilities will be less as they will be only able to claim for active calls on weekends and public holidays and not for weekday shifts.
According to the WBB system, the active on-call rates for weekdays and public holidays are RM275 for medical officers (MOs) and RM315 for specialists.
As for the current system, MOs are entitled to an active on-call allowance of RM220 on weekends and public holidays, and RM200 on weekdays.
Specialists are entitled to RM250 on weekends and public holidays and RM230 on weekdays.
But, with the WBB, they will not be able to claim an active on-call allowance on weekdays.