KUALA LUMPUR, August 20 – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) told the Ministry of Health (MOH) today to make public the selection criteria for permanent positions for doctors.
MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai noted that only 3,215 contract doctors, just 40 per cent of more than 8,000 applicants, received permanent positions in MOH this year out of the 3,586 available positions for medical officers.
“Though we know that any offer of a permanent position will ultimately be based on the report transpiring from the interview itself notwithstanding any additional educational or professional qualifications that the candidate may have, it will be good to have a set of selection criteria made known to the contract doctors,” Dr Koh said in a statement.
“From the results of the selection process, we noted that among those rejected were some who had made the effort to go for parallel pathway programmes, as well as excelled in their work. This resulted in dejection among these contract doctors. They have been informed that they will be offered a chance to reapply next year.
“But with even fewer permanent positions available next year, there is an outcry from the contract doctors wanting to know the selection criteria being employed to filter out those who will be offered permanent positions.
“Without knowing the selection criteria, many feel that they will be short-changed when they apply for the permanent positions. MMA calls for the selection criteria to be made public.”
In a statement last Wednesday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the Public Service Department’s (JPA) offer of 4,053 permanent positions to 3,215 medical officers, 438 dental officers, and 400 pharmacy officers was the highest number of permanent appointments since the contract system was introduced in 2016.
He added that the government has also agreed to provide at least 1,500 permanent positions annually for government doctors, dentists, and pharmacists from 2023 to 2025.
Eight hundred permanent posts in MOH for medical specialists and 70 for dental specialists will also be created annually from next year.
Officers under compulsory service will be offered contract extensions for another two years after the end of their compulsory service, or four-year reappointments for doctors undergoing specialist training.
