The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) urges the government to look into the issues faced by contract doctors in their online applications to Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam (SPA) for permanent posts.
A number of contract doctors who sent in their applications had encountered issues when applying for permanent positions, and have complained that their applications were rejected without any reason given.
If there were any technical reasons for rejecting their applications, they should be allowed to re-apply. SPA should also reply with reasons for rejecting their applications, and provide an avenue for them to appeal the decision. We urge the government to ensure transparency.
MMA has compiled data from 533 doctors and from the feedback received, some of the doctors had not filled in their Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) details in their application, as this was earlier not mandatory, but was later made so. This caused a discrepancy in the application process.
There were also limited options to select from in the section regarding field of specialisation, while some doctors had claimed that their application may have been affected because they did not fill in their CGPA marks.
MMA has highlighted the matter to the health minister last Thursday, and the he has given us his assurance that the issue will be addressed.
We have also followed up with a letter to the Ministry of Health proposing that the application process be improved and simplified. In the letter, MMA has offered to assist the government with drafting guidelines for the application process.
Dr Koh Kar Chai is president of the Malaysian Medical Association.
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