KUALA LUMPUR, August 26 — Dzulkefly Ahmad has reminded the Ministry of Health (MOH) to comply with a government circular that permits pregnant female civil servants to leave work early.
The health minister was responding to allegations by a medical officer at a public health clinic in Selangor writing to CodeBlue that their clinic and district health office (PKD) only allowed pregnant staff, including doctors, to only leave work an hour early from 36 weeks’ pregnancy, instead of 22 weeks as permitted in a Public Service Department (JPA) circular.
“I don’t want anyone, especially those in positions of authority like heads of department (HOD) and supervisors, to take measures flouting regulations,” Dzulkefly told a press conference yesterday after launching a ceremony on the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cancer between the MOH and pharmaceutical company Roche Malaysia at the MOH’s headquarters in Putrajaya.
“I want to remind everyone that even though I know that health care facilities in MOH are facing constraints, I stress that these cannot be a reason to breach regulations.
“I want issues about pregnant nurses and MySTEP to comply with and follow [the regulations] that have been set.”
However, Dzulkefly stopped short of saying that health care services should be cut to accommodate staff shortages and allow pregnant workers to leave work early.
In the letter to CodeBlue, the medical officer complained that their Klinik Kesihatan, classified as a Tahap 2 KK, was seeing the patient load of a Tahap 1 KK despite a staff size of a Tahap 2 KK.
Insufficient manpower, especially supporting staff, has been taking a toll on medical officers, leading to some pregnant doctors to develop hypertension due to their workload and often leaving work after 5pm.
CodeBlue obtained an audio recording of the health minister’s press conference.
According to JPA’s service circular number 11 in 2017, while pregnant female civil servants are eligible to leave work an hour early every day from 22 weeks’ pregnancy, “this facility isn’t a right” and department heads can revoke approval any time for the importance of service.
In relation to MySTEP, Dzulkefly was responding to a MySTEP personnel job advertisement posted by Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin Kajang Hospital in Selangor that offered monthly pay at the minimum wage rate of RM1,700, while requiring applicants to be willing to work overtime and shift duties without overtime pay.
A Budget 2025 webpage on the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) website describes MySTEP as an initiative by Socso under the Ministry of Human Resources (Kesuma) through the MYFutureJobs portal, expanded to people with disabilities (OKU) and senior citizens with job opportunities in the public sector and government-linked companies.
The webpage states that MySTEP personnel are not eligible for overtime allowance. The duration of service of MySTEP personnel must be at least one month.
JPA guidelines for the 2024 MySTEP programme, released on December 6, 2023, explicitly state that MySTEP personnel are not civil servants and, therefore, are not subject to civil service regulations.
According to the Employment Act, all salaried employees who earn less than RM4,000 monthly are entitled to overtime pay.
