KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad announced today that he would table a proposal to Cabinet to increase doctors’ on-call allowance (ETAP) for implementation next year.
In a statement, he listed 21 allowances that health care workers in the Ministry of Health (MOH) are entitled to, including Bayaran Insentif Perkhidmatan Kritikal, Bayaran Insentif Pakar, Elaun Bertugas Selepas Waktu Pejabat di Klinik Kesihatan dan Klinik Rawatan Pesakit di Jabatan Kecemasan Hospital (Elaun Locum), Elaun Pembedahan Elektif, and Bayaran Insentif Pakar Pra Warta (BIPPW).
“MOH is committed to completing a review of an ETAP rate increase that was recently conducted. Together with the Public Service Department (JPA), it will be tabled for consideration and approval by the Cabinet in the nearest time to realise its implementation in 2026,” said Dzulkefly.
In a post on X, Dzulkefly said doctors’ and dentists’ on-call allowance increase was being targeted for Budget 2026.
“I wish to emphasise that the well-being and recognition of health care workers have never been neglected,” he posted on the social media platform. “They remain the heartbeat of our nation’s health system reform.”
The health minister’s statement followed CodeBlue’s report last Friday about a disclosure by the MOH’s Human Resource Division (BSM) to the Health parliament special select committee (PSSC) that increasing the on-call allowance for medical officers and specialists by RM55 to RM65 was estimated to cost RM75 million to RM80 million a year.
BSM division secretary Noor Azman Abdul Rahman told the Health PSSC last February that the government decided to limit the on-call allowance raise to select doctors in the now-axed Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) pilot project – under Budget 2025 – to reduce financial implications to RM20 million or RM21 million annually.
Doctors were outraged at the revelation of the RM80 million cost of their rejected on-call allowance increase that would have comprised just 0.2 per cent of MOH’s RM45 billion 2025 budget.
Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, who is also Merlimau state assemblyman, slammed Dzulkefly yesterday for the “U-turn” in raising doctors’ on-call allowance, citing a July report by CodeBlue and an earlier April report by Bernama.
Dzulkefly had announced in a statement on July 12 that doctors’ on-call allowance could not be increased because of the MOH’s inability to implement WBB due to staff shortages.
Previously, in April, the health minister told reporters that MOH had received “approval” to raise the ETAP allowance, without specifying if this was Cabinet approval.
Yesterday, Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran suggested that the government could pay for the RM75 million to RM80 million on-call allowance raise by eliminating non-critical expenditure, like food and drinks during meetings.
Currently, medical/ dental officers and specialists receive ETAP allowance of RM220 and RM250 respectively per on-call shift on weekends. WBB, a shift system pilot cancelled by the Cabinet in January, had sought to increase this to RM275 and RM315 respectively for participating doctors and dentists in select hospital units or departments.
The RM220 allowance is equivalent to just RM9.16 per hour for a 24-hour on-call shift, which the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has characterised as being lower even than the pay for fast food workers.
