KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) will issue a new circular on working hours for junior medical officers, supplementing flexi-work arrangements for housemen.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad also touted the ministry’s efforts to ensure better compliance with existing regulations on doctors’ working hours.
“There will be a new circular from the Health director-general to further strengthen matters related to junior medical officers’ working hours,” Dzulkefly was quoted by New Straits Times as telling reporters after officiating the opening of the CRM Trial Connect Conference 2026 here today.
“This falls under junior medical officer governance and is being given attention by the director-general.”
He added that Health director-general Dr Mahathar Abd Wahab would also issue a new circular to “further strengthen working-hour arrangements so that they follow the original flexi-working guidelines for house officers”.
Dzulkefly reiterated that trainee doctors shouldn’t be treated as an “extra pair of hands”, stressing the need to comply with regulations. “This issue relates to implementation on the ground, which we need to improve in terms of governance.”
CodeBlue reported yesterday a statement by Malaysian Medics International (MMI) that housemen and medical officers average at 65 to more than 85 working hours a week, despite the MOH’s flexi-system limiting house officers’ working hours to 65 to 75 hours weekly.
According to the medical students’ group, junior doctors suffer 10 to 15 hours of unrecorded and unpaid overtime weekly.
Junior doctors in the United Kingdom, on the other hand, work far fewer hours at 40 hours a week. Unlike Malaysia without legally enforced rest or compensation, the UK limits a continuous shift for junior doctors at 13 hours.
