KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — At least two doctors in public service say they themselves regularly make payments to coworkers’ personal accounts for official matters, after news broke about a massive scam of housemen at Tunku Azizah Hospital (HTA).
Dr A, a specialist doctor serving at a government hospital in the Klang Valley, said he and his colleagues often transfer money directly to fellow coworkers, especially for department activities or courses.
“We do it all the time,” Dr A told CodeBlue.
“I just paid for a Raya open house pot luck in my hospital to a fellow colleague’s private account. I have also paid for courses in a government hospital in Selangor and another in Penang into personal accounts, but this is stated in the forms.”
Dr B, a medical officer serving at a Ministry of Health (MOH) hospital in Sabah, similarly said informal payment practices, like QR transfers to staff’s personal accounts or cash collection, were not uncommon in the health service.
These were often for books or department activities like staff farewell parties. For in-house course fees or materials, invoices or receipts are usually issued.
“So just because there exists an informal payment practice, we can’t automatically label it a ‘scam’,” Dr B told CodeBlue.
She cited homegrown orthopaedic guidelines produced by the orthopaedic department during her housemanship that junior doctors could purchase for about RM30 or RM40. Payments were made to a senior medical officer (MO) or registrar who issued paper receipts.
“But with the receipts, we were like, ‘No need lah, Doctor, just wasting time writing that’. I’d just throw it away anyway. But so far, I would say it was done with due diligence, so it’s good.”
She added that when she was previously serving at another hospital in the peninsula, housemen paid RM20 for a photostat copy of the Textbook of Neonatal Resuscitation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The original book costs RM100 to RM200.
“It doesn’t make sense for a houseman to buy that amount to respect the copyright just to pass a one-shot test. It’s not like we’ll become paediatricians after that anyway,” said Dr B.
“So the practice of photocopying the book, even though this was a copyright violation, is deemed as a necessary evil lah, I would say. With an RM20 photostat copy, one department will have the master copy and everybody photostats.”
These payments, she said, were made to a nurse in the paediatric department who issued small paper receipts. “We didn’t have that scam.”
CodeBlue is providing anonymity to five doctors interviewed for this story because civil servants are prohibited from speaking to the media.
Payments To Personal Accounts Done Collectively For ‘Check And Balance’
Dr B also stressed that in her experience, payments to coworkers’ personal accounts for official matters were usually managed collectively.
“For a farewell party for example, there will be a WhatsApp group with a committee – okay, this staff nurse is in charge of decorations, this staff nurse is in charge of food, this MO or Sister will handle the money, so all the money goes into that person’s account. And the QR code is shared with everybody, so there’s check and balance.”
Dr B, who has undergone plenty of courses in the past two and a half years, said payments for course fees were usually made to the organiser, for example the O&G association’s bank account for an obstetrics & gynaecology course.
Another doctor at a government hospital in Kedah wrote on Facebook that she had banked payment for the NRP course: RM50 for a book and RM20 for meals during her housemanship at another hospital separate from HTA.
“I’m still unsure if I am also one of the victims,” she posted, while another doctor commented that she didn’t pay anything for NRP at her hospital.
Two other government doctors that CodeBlue spoke to said they rarely made informal payments to coworkers’ personal accounts for official matters.
“In my experience, all payments will be through the MOH’s name; never through personal,” said Dr C, a medical officer at a public hospital in the Klang Valley.
Dr D, a specialist at an MOH hospital in Sabah, similarly said making payment to coworkers’ personal accounts “hardly occurs”.
He said QR payments for course fees or textbooks are usually made to an association’s account, not a staff’s personal account.
In the major HTA scam, a 28-year-old female administrative assistant (PT) allegedly defrauded about 190 trainee doctors in the Kuala Lumpur hospital’s paediatric department out of over RM47,000 by collecting payments of under RM50 for a photostat copy of the NRP book or certificate that were actually free. These payments were made in cash or QR transfers to her personal account.
The temporary MyStep contract staff – who has been dismissed after allegedly running her con job as early as September 2023 at HTA – was also accused of forging documents to convince housemen to transfer RM900 to her personal account for a false refund of supposed “overpayment” of emoluments.
Deductions For Salary Overpayments, One Case Of RM14,000 Overpayment Over Three Years
Doctors interviewed by CodeBlue cited the genuine occurrence of salary overpayment or underpayment in public service that was allegedly exploited by the PT in the HTA housemen scam.
Dr E, a senior medical officer at a public hospital in Selangor, said he faced RM3,000 salary overpayment over a period of seven to eight months in 2022, after which he told admin to make a single salary deduction of the entire amount.
His wife, another senior medical officer in Sarawak, was recently informed about a whopping RM14,000 salary overpayment over three years.
“I’m considered lucky because things happened within seven to eight months and immediately readjusted after that, hence I don’t feel much of a pinch. In my wife’s case, three years is too much. How could the PT miss it?” Dr E told CodeBlue.
“We already Sispaa and complained to different politicians about it, but the outcome is hopeless. Most doctors are too busy to fight for their rights and opt to pay silently and forget it. These PTs do not have a sense of urgency because things don’t happen to them.”
Dr E’s wife repaid the government RM14,000 in a lump sum payment.
Dr A said the hospital’s Unit Gaji would usually deduct directly from staff’s paychecks for salary overpayments, “sometimes without even telling you until you call and clarify with them”. But with underpayment, doctors have to “fight for it”.
Dr D similarly said issues of salary overpayment are generally handled via a letter from the admin that proposes salary deductions in stages.
“So overpayment is done quite officially – the ‘whole world knows’ type of transaction,” he said.
In her experience as a medical officer, Dr C said official letters, signed by the hospital director or head of department (HOD), would usually be issued in cases of salary overpayment. Then the doctor needs to go to Unit Hasil to make payment.
“You only know the flow once you become an MO. As a junior and newly entered HO (house officer), you can easily be fooled since you don’t know the correct flow.”
Dr B similarly said circulars or official letters from the finance department or HOD would be required for cases of salary overpayment.
“For all the weaknesses of our government, they rarely make petty mistakes in financial matters.”
She added that the MOH is very diligent with claims submissions, like on-call claims that require filling in multiple forms, together with thumbprints. “They’re like, ‘Doctor, you clocked in five minutes late, we have to reject’. It’s such a headache that makes us feel like pulling our hair out, like oh my God, they’re so strict. That’s their due diligence.”
In the HTA case, the PT allegedly produced a falsified form for housemen to sign to supposedly repay the government RM900, besides reportedly claiming to be able to get an HOD’s chop.
HTA said in a statement last Friday that cash collection or transfers to staff’s personal accounts for official business is prohibited, including repayment of emoluments or payments for course fees.
It’s unclear if this is a new policy following the housemen scam or if it has always been the HTA administration’s policy, given that at least two doctors interviewed by CodeBlue (albeit in other hospitals) have been routinely making direct payments to colleagues for work purposes for years.
Newly appointed MOH secretary-general Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad, who came into the job last month, has yet to issue a statement about the alleged criminal fraud in HTA or publicly explained admin and financial processes within health care facilities under the ministry.
