Dzulkefly Moh Reinstated Doctors 90 Day Maternity Leave Earlier

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The Health Ministry has reinstated the full 90-day maternity leave entitlement for seven medical officers (MO) in Hulu Langat who were reportedly denied the right by their superior.
According to Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, the decision was made even before the issue went viral and reported by health portal CodeBlue.
Thus, he said, the ministry considered the issue solved.
“I would like to stress here that the issue has been solved. They (the MOs) have been given a leave extension of 90 days.
“However, about the same time the decision was reached, the issue had also gone viral,” he told a press conference after launching a ministry programme on strengthening early childhood this afternoon.
Dzulkefly (above) said the ministry completely understands the importance of maternity leave to a child’s growth and stressed that the ministry must be more compassionate and empathetic towards their personnel in the future.
“Thus, moving forward, if any such a case happens, the first line of solution should be mobilising MOs from nearby clinics to cover the doctors who are on maternity leave, even when it goes to the extent of seven doctors going on leave at the same time like this case.
“It should not be a big problem if we can mobilise MOs from other facilities within the district to take over (temporarily).
“It was unfortunate that this case happened, but InsyaAllah, in the future we will make sure... we are a ministry that should show empathy and compassion to our staff members,” he said.
Last week, health portal CodeBlue reported that the Hulu Langat district health office had restricted maternity leave entitlement to 60 days for all medical officers working in public health clinics since June 27.
In a circular sighted by the portal, the Hulu Langat district health office said the leave restriction was due to a critical shortage of doctors in all public health clinics in the district.
Following this, the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) slammed the ministry for taking such a measure, which they said was a violation of employees’ rights. - Mkini

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