KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) has called for the formation of a Health Service Commission (SPK), after Health director-general Dr Mahathar Abd Wahab criticised the fragmented health workforce pipeline.
The contract doctors’ group expressed full support for the DG’s “unprecedented transparency” about the systemic crisis in Malaysia’s health care workforce.
“We acknowledge the DG’s proposal for better coordination, but we must go further,” HDK said in a statement last Saturday.
“HDK strongly disagrees with previous conclusions that a Health Service Commission is unnecessary or ‘overlapping’. To claim that existing agencies are sufficient is, quite frankly, a denial of the reality we live every day. The current overlap is exactly what causes the delays, the confusion, and the lack of accountability.”
At a conference at Monash University Malaysia earlier this month, Dr Mahathar attributed delays in medical graduates entering service and staff shortages to the siloed operation of multiple agencies involved in the health workforce pipeline, namely the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), the Public Service Department (JPA), and the Ministry of Health (MOH).
He cited the absence of a national admission quota in universities that’s aligned to workforce needs under MOHE, interim recruitment and limited permanent posts under JPA, and delayed registration of doctors under MOH.
HDK blamed JPA as the “primary bottleneck” in restricting permanent positions and forcing continued reliance on a failed “interim recruitment” model.
“JPA continues to rely on outdated data and insists that the current number of health care workers is sufficient, despite the reality on the ground being very different from what is reflected on paper,” said the contract doctors’ group.
“We echo the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) in stating that this is a collective government failure. While the MOH is the face of health care, it lacks the authority to fix the hiring and placement failures manufactured by the JPA and MOHE.”
MMA president Dr R. Arasu previously expressed support for Dr Mahathar’s statement, saying that the MOH shouldn’t bear the sole blame for health worker shortages.
Even as HDK accused JPA of limiting permanent positions for the health service, the contract doctors’ group noted in the same breath that only 529 medical graduates reported for duty out of 5,000 housemanship positions offered last January.
“When only 10 per cent of the workforce pipeline shows up, the system is failing,” said HDK.
“Every day, doctors and nurses are stretched beyond human limits. When safety ratios are ignored, it is the patients who pay the price through longer wait times and delayed life-saving treatments. We are losing our best and brightest to brain drain because they refuse to be treated as mere statistics in a broken ledger.”
HDK called for the establishment of an SPK with the legal mandate to streamline the entire process of training, recruitment, and placement of health care workers; decentralise health service employment from JPA to meet medical-specific needs; and ensure permanent career pathways that provide job security and professional dignity.
“We commend the director-general for speaking with clarity and professionalism. We stand with him,” said the contract doctors’ group.
“However, this can no longer stay under ‘consideration’ or be buried in another ‘feasibility study’. As lawmakers, the minister and the prime minister have the power to override bureaucratic inertia. We demand a clear timeline and immediate action.”
Last August, the Health parliament special select committee (PSSC) chaired by Pulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat recommended deferring the formation of an SPK, saying it wouldn’t solve problems because staffing decisions would still fall under JPA’s jurisdiction.
MOH deputy secretary-general (finance) Zahrul Hakim Abdullah told the committee that establishing an SPK would incur huge financial and staffing implications.
A JPA official told the Health PSSC that the MOH regularly receives new positions requested without needing to sacrifice existing positions, unlike other ministries or agencies that had to do “trade-offs” before getting approval for new critical posts.
JPA also pointed out that there were more than 54,000 vacancies in the MOH – medical officers, dental officers, pharmacy officers, assistant medical officers, nurses, and other service schemes – as of December 31, 2024. The MOH is responsible for filling positions.
