KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — The government has allocated a 40 per cent increase in doctors’ and dentists’ on-call allowance (ETAP) in Budget 2026, estimated to cost an additional RM120 million a year.
During his Budget speech, Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the prime minister, told Parliament that the ETAP increase for medical and dental officers already took effect last October 1, even though Parliament has yet to pass the federal budget.
“Doctors can claim from last October 1. This rarely happens when we table budgets, but we want to give space to doctors who are working hard,” said Anwar when tabling Budget 2026 in the Dewan Rakyat, noting that ETAP hasn’t been revised since 2011.
Medical officers get RM220 per shift for weekend active calls. A 40 per cent raise is equivalent to RM88, translating to a new ETAP rate of RM308.
This means that medical officers’ on-call allowance rate of RM9.16 per hour has been raised to RM12.83 per hour for a 24-hour shift, falling short of demands by doctors’ groups for an RM25 hourly rate.
Specialist doctors’ on-call allowance will be raised by RM100 (40 per cent) from RM250 to RM350 per shift for weekend active calls.
Even though the consultation fees of doctors in the private sector have nothing to do with government budgets, Anwar took the opportunity to announce a new RM80 ceiling fee for general practitioners (GPs), but maintained the floor GP consultation fee at RM10.
“This provides greater flexibility that is appropriate for the level of service provided, besides retaining a minimum rate that doesn’t burden the people.”
For more than three decades, GPs’ consultation fees had stagnated at RM10 to RM35. Doctors’ groups previously suggested raising GPs’ consultation fees to RM50 to RM80.
CodeBlue previously broke the story that a 25 per cent increase in doctors’ on-call allowance – which was previously tied to the Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) pilot project that was axed by the Cabinet in January – would cost the Ministry of Health (MOH) an additional RM80 million a year if claims were given to all medical officers performing on-call duties.
