KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad plans to brief a few MPs and senators in Parliament next Tuesday about certain “heated” issues involving the Ministry of Health (MOH).
CodeBlue sighted a WhatsApp message from Dzulkefly’s special functions officer Ahmad Fadhli Umar Aminolhuda to parliamentarians who were invited to the minister’s briefing.
“For your information, the Health Minister has suggested meeting a few MPs and Senators to explain a few MOH issues that have become heated recently,” Ahmad Fadhli, who is also a national Amanah Youth exco member, wrote.
A few parliamentarians – such as Bentong MP Young Syefura Othman and Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran – confirmed with CodeBlue that they received an invite to Dzulkefly’s briefing.
Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, who is attending the briefing, said the health minister invited parliamentarians who have debated on health care issues.
“This meeting shows that the health minister is serious in his job. He’s tackling important issues and this shows his openness to engage MPs,” Sim told CodeBlue when contacted.
When asked if there was any particular issue that may have sparked the planned briefing, Sim noted that “all kinds of issues” are raised in Parliament.
CodeBlue noted that Berita Harian’s report last February 3 – which quoted Dzulkefly as claiming that digitalisation efforts had cut waiting time in government clinics from three hours to 30 minutes – had sparked public furore, with many people expressing scepticism.
Berita Harian’s Facebook post garnered a whopping 14,000 reactions and more than 8,000 comments.
“I think this is not right. Officers always give the rosy picture,” Sim said.
The PKR lawmaker, who has been championing the issue of health insurance premium hikes and private hospital bills, said he will ask the health minister about private health care reform and regulations at the briefing.
Other pressing health care issues include a 45-hour work week for nurses that is scheduled to come into effect on March 1.
Groups representing nurses and medical assistants have strongly opposed an additional three working hours a week, citing a survey late last month among more than 28,000 health care staff in the MOH that showed a whopping 99.5 per cent disagreed with the 45-hour work week.
In his debate at the Dewan Rakyat, Pulai MP Suhaizan Kayat, who is also chair of the Health parliamentary special select committee, told the Dewan Rakyat during his debate that nurses are still forced to work during their breaks to attend to emergency cases.
“I received information recently that child care centres are more willing to accept the children of other civil servants, but not nurses, such as teachers, clerks, and the like, but not nurses because nurses’ working hours are uncertain. They have night shifts and their off days aren’t fixed,” Suhaizan said.
“Who wants to take care of a nurse’s children, whose working hours are not fixed? This is the difference between regular workers in the public service and nurses. It’s clear that the job of civil servants is different from a nurse’s work burden.
“Therefore, adding nurses’ working hours to 45 hours to be uniform with other civil servants is unacceptable. Fairness does not mean equality, but what is more accurate is to rightly place an issue. Therefore, give nurses the right to work 42 hours a week.”
Doctors in the public health service have also expressed dissatisfaction over a purported new specialist gazettement policy that increased the gazettement period to 18 months, with backdated salary claims abolished. The MOH has denied these allegations.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect the rescheduling of Dzulkefly’s briefing from tomorrow to Tuesday (Feb 25) at 8.45am in Parliament, based on a note sent to invited MPs.
