MHC said all government leaders must provide safe and responsible workplaces for the health professionals including acknowledging and promptly dealing with legitimate concerns. – Bernama file photo
KUCHING (July 18): The Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) has urged all government leaders including senior civil servants to treat frontliners with compassion and responsible leadership.
“They must provide safe and responsible workplaces for our health professionals including acknowledging and promptly dealing with legitimate concerns.
“Warnings and gag orders can be counter-productive especially if the official channels are not working,” said MHC in a statement today.
The statement was issued following recent news reports on police investigations into healthcare workers participating in the Code Black and Black Monday events.
MHC said those events were intended to highlight the need for fairer terms of service for Malaysia’s healthcare workers.
“We are in solidarity with healthcare workers who are under investigations, and believe that the freedom of expression, as enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, must be preserved.
“Throughout their participation in the movement, Malaysia’s healthcare workers have selflessly performed their duty of care for their patients without any public disruption, violence, or threats,” it added.
MHC pointed out that healthcare workers should be allowed to speak their minds and raise their concerns through proper channels, including on matters concerning their rights and welfare and also patient safety.
These official channels must be responsive in a timely manner as well as efficient to manage the issues at hand, it said.
MHC also urged the police and relevant authorities to exercise prudence in the investigations, and act with kindness and compassion as fellow public servants in controlling the pandemic.
On July 4, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Prof Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy the Code Black from July 1 to 12 and Black Monday on July 12 aimed only to encourage the people to show their support for the contract doctors.
He said the community could show their support by changing their personal profile picture or company or institution logo to black or monochrome.
“They can wear black to work on July 12 in a show of solidarity with contract doctors,” he added.
According to Dr Subramaniam, there are 23,077 contract doctors since 2016 but only 789 have been given permanent positions in the public healthcare.