KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced today that doctors who complete housemanship will be offered permanent appointments as medical officers starting next year.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, claimed that the Madani government gave permanent appointments to more than 15,000 contract doctors since 2023, including 4,000 this year, omitting mention of the number of no-shows who rejected their permanent appointment offers.
“I’m happy to announce that the contract doctor issue has ended,” said Anwar when tabling Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“For 2027, more than 9,000 contract doctors will be offered permanent positions, meaning that after this, doctors who successfully complete housemanship will be offered permanent appointments as medical officers.”
The number of no-shows among medical officers for permanent positions spiked during the Madani administration from 2 per cent (78 doctors) in 2022 to 20 per cent (1,118 doctors) in 2023, before rising further to about 40 per cent in 2025.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad announced in Parliament yesterday that 382 out of 1,055 medical officers (36 per cent) offered permanent positions in Sabah and Sarawak this year failed to report for duty.
The contract system for doctors was started by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration in 2016 to deal with a glut of doctors then, but in a decade, the health service now faces a dire shortage of doctors with rising attrition rates, including medical officers who rejected permanent posts outright.
In terms of remuneration for health workers, Budget 2027 only allocated two items: an increase in the Air Health Service Incentive Payment from RM30 to RM100, as well as a raise in the post-basic incentive payment for 47,000 paramedics and nurses from RM100 to RM200 a month.
The Air Health Service Incentive Payment was raised following the Long Lellang tragedy in Miri, Sarawak, on September 8 that killed all five people onboard a Flying Doctor Service helicopter, including four Ministry of Health (MOH) workers.
Budget 2027 allocated funding for nine new health care facilities, including a specialist clinic complex and daycare centre at Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru Hospital; a specialist dental clinic in Kuching, Sarawak; as well as allied health complexes in Gerik, Perak, and Rembau, Negeri Sembilan.
Anwar further announced an RM1.2 billion allocation for upgrades of public hospitals and clinics.
More than RM770 million was allocated for the procurement of modern equipment, including upgrading haemodialysis equipment in hospitals nationwide, 400 new ambulances for MOH hospitals, robotic technology for Universiti Sains Malaysia’s specialist hospital, as well as basic science laboratories and clinical simulation equipment at 18 MOH training institutes.
The prime minister also announced an RM1 billion investment by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to implement an electronic medical records system in health care facilities nationwide.
