KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) shift system, which triggered public backlash recently, has been cancelled pending further studies by the government, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic).
The Health Minister said this was decided during a Cabinet meeting yesterday.
“The Cabinet decided to cancel the pilot WBB project to allow for a more thorough and comprehensive study,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry has set up a special task force to be chaired by former health director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Suleiman.
“The terms of reference of this task force is in relation to strengthening the delivery of healthcare services to the people and the scheduling of working hours.
“We will continue our efforts to foster a safer and fairer workplace for all, especially healthcare workers,” the minister said.
Recently, 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 hours.
Under Budget 2025, it was 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 only be able to claim for active calls on weekends and public holidays, and not for weekday shifts.
Based on 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.
The pilot project was initially scheduled to be implemented at seven hospitals on Feb 1.
