PUTRAJAYA, Jan 6 – Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced today 4,914 vacancies in permanent positions for medical, dental, and pharmacy officers in the public sector for 2023 – an additional 728 posts than 2022.
Of the 4,914 vacancies for this year, 4,263 are for medical officers, 335 for dental officers, and 316 for pharmacy officers.
“Advertisements will be open from January 6, 2023 to January 21, 2023,” Dr Zaliha said in her 2023 new year address to Ministry of Health (MOH) staff here today.
“In line with that, I hope that eligible candidates will fill their applications immediately with complete and correct information.”
The creation of 4,914 permanent positions for health care professionals for this year marks a 17 per cent increase from the 4,186 positions created for 2022.
In terms of permanent positions for medical officers, this year saw a 19 per cent increase from 3,586 vacancies created for 2022 to 4,263 for 2023, or an extra 677 posts.
Then-Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced last August that 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.
However, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) noted that only 3,215 contract doctors, just 40 per cent of more than 8,000 applicants, received permanent positions out of the 3,586 available positions for medical officers last year.
In an interview with Astro Awani’s Consider This last night, MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai reiterated the doctors’ association’s call for selection criteria for permanent posts and promotions in the health service to be made public.
In a rare move, he also announced MMA’s call for Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar to intervene and regulate – together with the Public Service Department (JPA) – the working hours of “exploited” and overworked house officers.
The Employment Act 1955 regulates employment in the private sector. Employment of civil servants is governed separately by the Public Service Commission.
