How Brain Drain Of Doctors Nurses To Singapore Is Leading To Inadequate Healthcare For Malaysians

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THAT Malaysia is infected by the brain drain syndrome is not a new issue.
Thousands of qualified professionals are leaving or have left the Malaysian shores for greener pastures every year. But the problem is especially pronounced in the healthcare sector.

Commenting on X, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Mahyuddin Mohamed (@DrMahyuddin) revealed that many doctors and nurses are being lured across the Causeway, some the moment they complete their studies.
The former Malaysia Medical Council (MMC) member contended that while this may be good news for those healthcare professionals and even positive for Singapore, it is not great for Malaysians and especially, the existing doctors and nurses.
He was responding to a report by BFM News (@NewsBFM) which stated that approximately 37,000 Singapore public healthcare workers will receive pay rises by middle of 2025, making it easier to retain their services.
The post has already generated 680.9k views at time of publication with many netizens expressing deep concern at this alarming trend.
One netizen asked if the doctors being head hunted were from select varsities to which the poster confirmed that they were mainly from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

One netizen argued that these healthcare professionals would not be over-burdened by having to treat tonnes of illegal migrant workers in Singapore, hence there is the added incentive of better working conditions aside from better salaries.

One commenter used her cousin who is a healthcare professional as an example. Being constantly overworked meant that she had no hesitation in accepting a posting abroad, thus bidding farewell to the Malaysian Health Ministry (KKM).
He went on to conclude that the ship had indeed sunk and that the rakyat would be the ones who will bear the cost of such migration.

This sentiment was echoed by another netizen who opined that healthcare professionals cannot be blamed for jumping ship if the Health Ministry has been derelict in its duty to look after their welfare although it would seem that Singapore has been sucking away the fruits of Malaysian investment.

One pointed out that the main attraction of the civil service was having a pension. Without a pension scheme, nobody would want to join the public sector and this was not limited to the healthcare sector.

However, one seemed to think this was short-term problem considering that those who cross the Causeway seeking better fortune will eventually return.

Previously, the narrative had always been tainted with accusations of unpatriotic citizens abandoning ship. It was often cited that such persons were frequently non-Bumiputera and by extension, hence had less emotional ties to Malaysia.
This has now been shown to be complete hogwash as those being lured away consisted of healthcare professionals of all ages, genders and, yes, races.
As repeatedly pointed out, Malaysia spends large sums training these healthcare professionals, only to lose them to the highest bidder.
This example highlights how spurious it is to view everything through race-tinted lens and that ultimately, it is the rakyat who suffer from having inadequate provisions for healthcare.
This problem has been on-going and the sooner Malaysians realise it is not race-related, the better.
Over to you, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. – Focus Malaysia

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