KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Sabah said yesterday that only 47 out of 138 medical officers from outside Sabah assigned to hospital postings in the state had reported for duty.
This is equivalent to just 34 per cent reporting for duty or two-thirds (91 doctors) not showing up.
Although MMA Sabah lacked data on doctor postings to district health offices or public health clinics, the association suggested that similar difficulties may be affecting primary health care facilities, based on feedback from doctors on the ground.
“Sabah’s doctor shortage is reaching breaking point,” MMA Sabah chairman Dr Brandon Patrick Senagang said in a statement yesterday.
“The recent large number of medical officers who did not take up postings in Sabah should be regarded as a serious warning.
“Permanent appointments have long been sought by contract doctors for greater career security. When doctors are prepared to give up a permanent appointment rather than take up a posting, we must ask what is driving that decision.”
MMA Sabah urged the state government to make staff accommodation a health care infrastructure priority, consider Sabah-specific supplementary financial incentives, and invest in the living conditions surrounding rural health care facilities.
Over the longer term, the association proposed that the Sabah state government invest in developing its own medical workforce through scholarships and clear opportunities for specialist training.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) clarified yesterday that although the permanent appointment intake of 4,255 UD10 medical officers nationwide began last September 28, doctors had until October 7 to report for duty at their new placements.
If medical officers still fail to report for duty by next Wednesday and MMA Sabah’s data remains largely unchanged, this means Sabah’s no-show rate of about 66 per cent far exceeds Deputy Health Minister Hanifah Hajar Taib’s earlier projection in July of a 50 per cent no-show rate for doctors posted to Sabah this year.
She told Parliament then that 560 contract medical officers would be offered permanent positions in Sabah as a whole this year, projecting 280 to accept their offers, which would fill the state’s need of 256 medical officers.
But if only about a third, or 190 of the 560 doctors posted to Sabah report for duty, this would be insufficient to fill the gap of 256 medical officers.
Besides state-wide data of a 66 per cent no-show rate for hospital postings reported by MMA Sabah, doctors’ anecdotes on social media showed much higher no-shows at specific hospitals, from 100 per cent no-shows at Beluran, Keningau, and Sipitang Hospitals to 67 per cent to 76 per cent in other hospitals or clinics in Sabah and Sarawak.
In Sarawak, doctors unofficially reported zero medical officers reporting for duty at Kanowit and Limbang Hospitals.
