75,000+ signatures have been collected to urge the Cabinet to revise the decision on critical allowance.
But it’s not just about junior doctors being overworked and underpaid. Many don’t even have jobs to begin with! The angry reaction of Malaysians stems from the following issues:
Respect
Respect for the government has been lost — over the handling of major issues in the ministry of health. Failure to heed warnings over the glut of medical schools and graduates and damage control measures to salvage the housemanship system has resulted in jobless junior doctors.
Specialisation pathways for medical officers and gazettement procedures for specialists are disorganised and messy. A biased and opaque evaluation and assessment system for health care professionals has caused many to leave government service.
Facility failure resulting in death of patients (such as the fire in Johor Bahru) with no public explanation years later, water and electricity cuts in tertiary hospitals and many more. Tertiary hospitals suffer from antibiotic shortages – something that should never happen in a developed country.
Revamp
A major revamp and overhaul is needed by the Cabinet and the ministry. I hope that the Malaysian government will not turn a deaf ear to the cries of the people. Stop using the excuse of budget cuts; investigate claims of overinflated contracts and kick backs to suppliers instead.
The recent news (if true) on parking fees of RM5,000+ for certain politicians is indeed ridiculous and shocking. It reveals the discrepancy in the distribution of finances and leaves many feeling underappreciated and ill treated.
The salary scheme of civil servants (not only doctors) need a revision. Nurses, teachers, firemen, policemen and so many others. Do away with superfluous administrative positions that are merely for pushing papers. Streamline the civil service to enable the increment of the salary of civil servants.
Remove
“Kalau doctor tak puas hati, doctor boleh quit”
Those were the shocking words spoken through the phone from a clerical staff at the Ministry of Health office, Putrajaya, in response to a question from a junior doctor regarding the status of their contract/ permanent positions. Indeed, they do not (hopefully) represent the views of the ministry as a whole — but this is kind of treatment that the government doctors have been receiving in recent years.
This is the kind of attitude that we need to remove from government service. The government may have changed but if attitudes (and the people that carry it) are still there, nothing will improve. There is much to be done — remove lazy administrators from their positions and appoint those who are truly capable; leaders should not head more than one council or committee as this will result in diluted attention and ineffective management.
Restore
Faith in the government and ministry leaders must be restored before we lose more Malaysians to other countries. A significant number of junior doctors have left the country and many more are planning to in search of a better life.
Unsurprisingly, senior doctors are unwilling to come back to this mess that we are in. We are losing human resource at an alarming rate whilst comforting ourselves with news articles of “Malaysian-born XXX wins award” in some foreign land.
“Talent retaining” programmes are a waste of resources and unnecessary. Simply recognise and reward hard work and doctors will stop leaving the country.
The critical allowance issue is not about junior doctors being overworked and underpaid. It is about how the government has failed the general public and the entire health care workforce of Malaysia. Please reflect and revise — or let yourselves be replaced.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
