Case for absorbing contract doctors as permanent staff

INTRODUCED in December 2016, the contract system for medical doctors was deemed necessary to address the glut of medical graduates in the country.

The doctors on contract were offered a five-year term (three years plus two years’ extension).

Last year, a total of 55,981 medical officers held permanent positions in the Health Ministry while another 23,096 were on contract.

So, if the government could support 78,177 medical officers in that year (2022), why can’t it continue to support this number as permanent staff with a slightly higher budget?

Costs aside, their services are needed now more than ever. We saw this great need during the Covid-19 pandemic when healthcare workers had, in some cases, to work 36 hours at a stretch to cope with the ever-increasing number of critical patients.

If the overriding reason for introducing the contract system was to address the glut of medical graduates, doesn’t it stand to reason that intake of students into medical colleges should be restricted?

We do not impose such a contract system on the employment of, for example, teachers and civil servants although there is also a glut of these professionals.

Cost is not a factor. It’s all a question of budgeting.

We can cut down on non-essential spending and allocate more funds to services that are sorely needed.

Also, I don’t think there was ever a glut of doctors. It was rather a failure of planning on the Public Service Department’s part.

If there is a glut, why are those in service overworked? Wouldn’t it make sense to give full-time employment to more doctors to share the workload?

It is common knowledge that over the next decade or so, Malaysia will see an ageing population with an attendant increase in demand for healthcare services.

It therefore makes sense for us to invest in the necessary manpower, equipment and other healthcare facilities now to cater for this eventuality.

Where facilities are concerned, the 145 hospitals and 2,000 health clinics existing today are grossly overcrowded.

It has been estimated that more than half of the country is dependent on public healthcare, but there has not been a parallel expansion for these facilities.

Moreover, the demand for hospitals and clinics is more acute in some parts of Sabah and Sarawak.

It has been suggested that public healthcare facilities could extend their operating hours to meet the increasing demand for services.

Won’t this put an additional burden on the staff and increase their stress level too? A bigger workforce is obviously the answer to this malady.

There is talk of instituting a health services commission to look into the healthcare challenges. But is this necessary? Aren’t the shortcomings and their solutions plain for everyone to see?

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has truly cut to the chase when he said recently: “We are underfunded, understaffed, underpaid, overworked, overstretched and overcrowded with patients.”

It’s time for us to give our healthcare staff and services a much-needed boost to keep us safe and healthy.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE

Chairman

Alliance for Safe Community