KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not manage to get its “Suka Sama Suka” mutual posting swap platform for health care workers off the ground by last month.
At the Dewan Rakyat last February, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad promised that the “Suka Sama Suka” digital platform – purportedly in the “final stages” of development – would be implemented in phases in a couple of months from April.
“They should not announce something unless they are sure of being able to launch it,” Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Schomos chair Dr Timothy Cheng told CodeBlue mildly.
He added that while “Suka Sama Suka” would likely be useful to doctors, more details about how the system works are needed.
“Also, it cannot replace a properly distributed manpower system.”
Government doctors had broadly welcomed “Suka Sama Suka” — which will allow health care professionals of the same scheme to mutually exchange placements without the Human Resource Division’s (BSM) involvement — when the proposal was initially announced at an MOH town hall last January.
“The delay in launching this platform, despite the initial promise for it to be ready by April, paints a rather negative picture of MOH and its top management,” Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) spokesman Dr Muhammad Yassin told CodeBlue.
“I wonder if the initial announcement was just made due to a few viral issues at that time on how difficult it is for MOH staff to transfer to their place of interest.”
HDK added that “Suka Sama Suka” would be useful to doctors, as many of them serve away from their families.
CodeBlue has requested comments from the MOH.
A recent CodeBlue survey among 938 contract and permanent medical officers across the country showed that about 62 per cent would rather quit public service than serve away from their home state.
Among 901 respondents who answered why state is an important factor for them in deciding placements, 86 per cent want to serve where their family lives. Only 30 per cent cited better career development opportunities.
More than a third of respondents (34 per cent) said they are currently not serving in their preferred state.
Six in 10 ranked state as the most important factor for them in deciding where to serve, exceeding department to pursue specialisation (29 per cent) and type of facility (10 per cent).
