KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Sarawak and Sabah are short of 209 and 237 medical officers respectively, due to doctors rejecting their placements for permanent positions, according to Sarawak Deputy Premier Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Dr Sim – who is also the state minister for public health, housing and local government – said peninsular Malaysia instead has a “surplus” of more than 200 medical officers.
He added that he has sought follow-up from the Ministry of Health (MOH), after CodeBlue published a letter from a medical officer at Sibu Hospital complaining about being forced to work every day, being on passive calls on weekends and public holidays.
CodeBlue pointed out to Dr Sim that medical officers are being overworked in other district hospitals across the country, besides Sibu Hospital, due to the diversion of house officers to state hospitals since January this year.
“Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), being a state hospital, is in critical shortage also,” Dr Sim told CodeBlue.
He said Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira, who is also the chief physician at SGH and the Sarawak representative on the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC), is “crying out for help.”
“I asked him to look into the newly formed Sarawak Medical Committee under MMC on registration of the doctors for Sarawak.”
Dr Sim said he was informed by MMA Sarawak, based on their on-the-ground surveys, that a whopping 96 per cent of medical officers declined their transfers to the state and promotions to permanent status in the civil service.
CodeBlue previously reported that the MOH’s massive relocation of more than 4,000 contract medical officers in July 2023 for permanent positions saw Sarawak and Sabah gaining more than 500 medical officers each, while the Klang Valley suffered a loss of 360 doctors.
The Sarawak deputy premier said he has arranged a meeting with Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad in early January on the doctors’ shortage in the state.
