PETALING JAYA: A plate of nasi lemak has gone up to RM3.60 from RM2 in 2012 – an increase of 81%.
Yet the on-call allowance for doctors at public hospitals has remained unchanged for the past 12 years, says a senator.
The allowance is just RM9.16 an hour, and a 24-hour shift will earn them RM220.
The stagnant rate, said Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran, is not just a financial matter but an issue of justice and fairness which impacted the morale of healthcare workers, especially junior doctors.
“It is about inter-generational justice. Our doctors and other healthcare workers rely primarily on their public sector salaries, which are far lower than what the private sector offers,” said the former Hospital Sungai Bakap director.
Many junior doctors are still receiving on-call rates set more than a decade ago and which are no longer reflective of the times, he said citing the price of nasi lemak as an example.
Dr Lingeshwaran said the government’s failure to act may discourage the young from pursuing medicine and causing a shortage of doctors.
“A fair allowance structure helps reduce burnout and encourages retention, without doctors having to worry about making ends meet,” he said.
Independent health advocate Dr Sean Thum said many doctors felt upset as a new on-call allowance was announced under Budget 2025 but has yet to be implemented.
The Health Ministry’s Human Resource Division (BSM) said it would cost up to RM80mil a year to increase the on-call allowance for all medical officers.
The government then intended to limit the allowance increase to doctors under the Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) project, which would have reduced the cost to about RM21mil per annum.
However, that too has now been scrapped.
