KUALA LUMPUR: More than 3,500 medical officers have resigned from the Health Ministry since 2024, with more than half leaving for private-sector jobs, even as the public healthcare system faces over 13,000 vacancies for doctors and specialists.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said 1,252 permanent medical officers and 2,258 contract medical officers resigned between 2024 and this year.
Of those who left, 51.4% moved to the private sector, followed by personal reasons at 36.8%, he said in a written parliamentary reply on Wednesday (Oct 21).
Only 2.9% left to work or settle overseas, while 4.5% joined statutory bodies, 2.6% cited health reasons, 1.5% pursued further studies and 0.3% opened their own clinics.
Dzulkefly said eight medical specialists had resigned or migrated overseas during the same period.
He was responding to Klang MP Ganabatirau Veraman, who asked for an update on doctors leaving the service or migrating, vacancies, specialist shortages, housemanship waiting times and the effectiveness of retention measures.
As at June 30, there were 1,660 vacancies for specialist medical officers and 11,412 vacancies for non-specialist medical officers, Dzulkefly said.
The ministry appointed 14,064 medical officers on permanent terms and 9,847 on contract from 2024 to 2026.
On housemanship, Dzulkefly said there was currently no waiting list for eligible medical graduates.
He said 6,580 of 12,198 available housemanship training positions at 48 training hospitals nationwide had been filled, representing an occupancy rate of 54%.
“This shows that training capacity at Health Ministry facilities remains sufficient to accommodate eligible medical graduates,” he said.
Dzulkefly said the ministry had offered permanent appointments to 4,500 contract medical officers this year as part of efforts to improve career security and retain doctors in public service.
He said a Health Ministry workforce management task force had been set up by the Public Service Department in April to address staffing issues in the ministry.
The task force is chaired by the Public Service director-general and includes senior officials from the Finance Ministry, Health Ministry, Public Service Commission and Public Service Department.
Dzulkefly added that the Health Ministry and Higher Education Ministry had begun working together to better match the supply of healthcare workers with current needs.
He said the Public Service Department had also given the ministry authority from July 9 to manage, organise and distribute its approved posts, a move aimed at speeding up recruitment and easing staffing shortages at public health facilities.
