Too Late To Prevent Drowning Govt Doctors From Quitting

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YOURSAY | 'Malaysian doctors working in govt hospitals may soon be a thing of the past.'
'Ship has sunk': Specialist reflects on doctor cousin's decision to move abroad
Doc: I agree with Nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah that the Malaysian Healthcare system has sunk. The time for the Health Ministry to fix the problems of doctors and specialists quitting has passed.
The ministry’s insistence on paying doctors (and specialists) low salaries, getting them to work inhumane hours with no hope of promotions, salary increments and progression to become specialists has caused irreparable damage to the medical profession.
Today, it's common knowledge among the public that government doctors are forced to work long hours with lower pay, while they have to face being bullied, and have no means to improve their income.
The ministry is clearly "anti-doctors". Hence, the younger generation of doctors have no chance but to seek employment in other countries.
Today, being a doctor is not something the younger generation of Malaysians want especially in a country where a job that pays more with less work is the ideal form of employment.
In the not-so-recent past, after the SPM examination results were out, there was the yearly tussle about why students with 10A's did not get a seat in the medical department in local universities, as medicine is the most sought-after degree.
Fast forward to 2025; post-SPM, there is no more tussle to do medicine, and in this case, even Malay doctors are opting to migrate to other countries. This clearly shows that due to the Health Ministry's sheer incompetence; they have "killed off" the medical profession in Malaysia.
We can now expect the rate of replacement of doctors resigning from the government to be far lower, hence in a short time, there will not be enough doctors and nurses to run the hospital.
The joke that is circling the medical fraternity is that soon the Health Ministry will have to employ doctors from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan. There may come a time for Malaysian doctors working in the Health Ministry to be a thing of the past.
ScarletCheetah8198L: I don’t think our minister and public service leaders are listening. I am a layman. I think doctors in Malaysia are not being treated fairly.
Any major policy decision must be taken after consultation with them.
Having doctors work long shifts is dangerous for patients and the doctors' health. Creating a shift system is child's play.
Doctors need to be paid well, not the current salaries which are not much more than what a semi-skilled, uneducated migrant worker earns in Malaysia. This worker usually gets a minimum of two hours a day of overtime pay, which is 1.5 times their normal salaries.
On Sundays, they get twice, while on public holidays, they get 3.0 times their pay. So, the hard-working ones can take home more than RM4,000 a month, more than our house officers or even fresh medical officers. What a shame.
Doctors get paid so little for after-hours work. I suggest that all senior public sector top-grade officers be asked to work similar hours and then they will understand the predicament of our doctors.
This should include the medical director-general, his deputy and other senior officers and senior specialists. After all, they are the ones who formulate policies.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, health care is very critically in need of upgrading, there should be an emphasis on our doctors' well-being. The healthcare ship is sinking, we cannot wait anymore.
We must introduce or implement measures to stop our doctors from leaving. If our present health minister cannot perform his task, bring in professionals or former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin to help. Khairy did a good job when he organised the nationwide mega-vaccination programme.
BusinessFirst: The commentators here have rightly pointed out that if the talented Malay Muslims are themselves leaving now, it is worse for the non-Malays who left earlier. This shows you clearly that an unfair system eventually affects us all.
However, and unfortunately, this is going to get worse. There is so much vested interest in this unfair system that there is no chance it will change. Like the United States, Malaysia will see "silly" short-term and short-attention-span voters grow in numbers.
They will rally to race and religious rhetoric and as their numbers grow bigger, they will eventually run the show. They have no sense of sacrifice for the future. It is now a self-gratification culture.
I hate to say it but perhaps democracy has run its course and outlived its usefulness. Democracy is premised on rational people making rational decisions but to be fair it has broken down.
A representative government need not be one man one vote. I think the time is coming when a system fails us and a new one will take over in a cycle as Polybius theorises.
OmegaCentral: I think the elephant in the room is money. There is a lack of beds, patients have to spend long hours in emergency waiting for beds to free up in the wards.
The waiting time for appointments is getting longer and longer. All these issues are caused by insufficient manpower, hospitals, clinics, and equipment, among other things.
The solution is more funding for the ministry and better management.
Cynic: Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad is a toxicologist, not a medical doctor per se. He has never practised medicine his whole life.
It would be unfair to think that he would understand the rigours of medical practice and the toll it takes on a doctor's social, professional and personal life.
"There are doctors working at ungodly hours while others are lying in the comforts of their beds" is a remark made in bad taste.
It gives the picture that only a few are working the graveyard shift while the rest of the doctors are lolling in their beds.
"This is not about personal success or failure " is another boo-boo. Success or failure is measured by the system here; failure means the entire system is broken.
Doctors go through so much pain in public service. Dzulkefly, instead of Toxicology, should have taken up Cardiology. Have a heart, health minister. - Mkini

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