The health minister previously told Muar MP Syed Saddiq that the government had asked MOH to review its proposal to promote contract medical officers by including several “cost-saving measures”.
Despite the acute shortage of doctors, long waiting times for a simple outpatient appointment, longer waiting times for non-emergency surgery, these young doctors are not guaranteed a permanent position in the public sector.
MOH should also disclose the percentage of success of Sarawakian medical officers in getting permanent posts in Sarawak hospitals, besides properly distributing the 150 new permanent postings instead of concentrating them in the cities.
The Association of Private Hospitals says while privatisation can be adopted in other sectors, health care requires years of training for doctors in the public sector.
The additional six-month contract extension limits contract workers from getting enough time and training for their specialist programmes, even if they are doing the parallel pathways.
The six-month contract follows a previous six-month contract given last April to 2,070 medical, dental, and pharmacy officers who completed their compulsory service.
We urge the government to create more permanent posts and to lengthen the contract duration (for example, five to 10 years with the same grade, pay, and benefits as permanent posts).