KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Medical and dental officers will be able to claim the new on-call allowance (ETAP) rates from Saturday, said Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He said the ETAP raise averaging at 40 per cent would be implemented on November 1, after Finance and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced during the tabling of Budget 2026 that claims could be made from last October 1.
“The recalibration will occur on November 1, not October 1,” Dzulkefly told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday during the winding-up of the debate on Budget 2026.
“JPA (Public Service Department) has already released an approval letter for the new ETAP payments.”
According to a Budget 2026 document by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), on-call allowance increments for medical officers, specialist medical officers, and dental officers will be raised by between 33 per cent and 43 per cent, according to eligibility.
The new ETAP rate for weekend active calls for medical officers was increased by RM80 from RM220 to RM300 per shift, while specialist doctors will get an RM100 raise from RM250 to RM350 per shift.
The new RM300 weekend on-call allowance rate for medical officers is equivalent to RM12.50 per hour for a 24-hour shift.
The long-awaited ETAP increment for doctors in public service after more than a decade costs the government RM120 million annually.
The MOF is also considering transfer allowances for medical officers who are posted to Sabah or Sarawak upon receiving permanent appointments.
Dzulkefly said the Ministry of Health (MOH) has proposed the provision of transfer allowances to MOF since last August and that the matter – which involves the permanent appointments of 7,210 contract doctors – is still under consideration by MOF’s remuneration policy and management division.
“All this is a work in progress. I ask for some time for MOF’s response,” he told Willie Mongin (GPS-Puncak Borneo), who pointed out that some doctors rejected postings to Sarawak due to the lack of a relocation allowance.
“We’re awaiting a more positive response to incentivise service, especially in interior areas, Sabah, or Sarawak.”
Medical officers currently do not receive transfer allowances for postings to Sabah or Sarawak when they transition from contract to permanent status, as the government considers them to be new hires in the public service.
More Than Half Of Medical Officers Rejected Permanent Postings To Sabah, Sarawak
Dzulkefly revealed that a whopping 53 per cent of medical officers, or 699 doctors, rejected offers of permanent placements in Sabah and Sarawak this year.
As of October 17, the MOH offered permanent appointments to 1,315 medical officers for postings in Sabah and Sarawak, comprising 550 in Sabah and 765 in Sarawak.
From that total, only 616 medical officers, or 47 per cent, agreed to accept their permanent offers and reported for duty in Sabah and Sarawak.
“This is the challenge. We’ve taken so many measures, but we’re still facing this problem,” Dzulkefly lamented.
“I believe that we’ll continue to face this problem as long as we can’t convince them. However, I’ve seen for myself how a few medical officers or specialists initially didn’t want to serve in Sabah or Sarawak, but eventually felt comfortable continuing to serve there.”
Under the new and improved ePlacement system that came into effect last June, candidates were given three options for placements, including a mandatory option of Sabah, Sarawak, or Labuan.
Malaysia Working On Bilateral Agreements For Ethical Recruitment Of Health Personnel
Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru) raised his concerns about aggressive recruitment drives from Singapore that target Malaysian doctors and nurses.
“I understand that more are increasingly emigrating to Singapore. We’re suffering brain drain to Singapore,” he said in Parliament.
Similarly, Dr Halimah Ali (PN-Kapar) noted that medical officers are emigrating to other countries due to a lack of permanent positions in public service and poor prospects to practise as private general practitioners (GPs) in Malaysia.
“So when there are parties that give better offers, including higher remuneration and providing cars and homes, I think the Ministry needs to look at this. You’re losing out because they’re getting a better life, plus better work-life balance too,” she told the House.
Dzulkefly replied that dozens of Malaysian specialist doctors returned home from overseas in the past four years.
“Sometimes they think the ground is greener next door until they step on it,” said the health minister.
He revealed that from 2021 to this year, 73 Malaysian specialists who had been working abroad returned to Malaysia, of which 70 joined the private sector or statutory bodies. Only three went back to the MOH.
“What’s important is for us to fix the service scheme, remuneration. This is a work in progress,” said Dzulkefly.
He added that Malaysia is working on bilateral agreements with countries like Arab Saudi and Singapore to regulate the migration of health care personnel, citing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global code of practice on international recruitment of health personnel as a reference.
“But it’s only a code of practice; it’s not mandatory,” said Dzulkefly.
“This code will guide member countries on the recruitment of health personnel between countries so that it’s more ethical, besides looking at the impact on source countries, especially developing countries or those that are resource-poor. It will also safeguard the welfare of migrating health care professionals.”
Dzulkefly reiterated that he was working on putting an end to the contract system that began in 2016 to tackle a glut of doctors then, as the country is now facing a doctors’ shortage.
A total of 57 MPs who debated on Budget 2026 raised issues related to the MOH.
