Yii claimed many Sarawakian doctors and other healthcare workers serving in Sarawak have yet to be offered permanent posts. — AFP file photo
KUCHING (July 23): The Ministry of Health (MoH) and Public Service Department (JPA) have been asked why none of the 102 contract medical officers offered permanent posts in Sarawak’s hospitals are Sarawakian.
The contract medical officers are part of the 203 from the third cohort 2017 batch recently offered permanent posts throughout the country effective Aug 2.
In a statement today, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said while many Peninsular Malaysian doctors transferred to Sarawak are dedicated and diligent, in most cases these arrangements were not permanent.
He claimed eventually the doctors would be transferred back to their home states after their two-year compulsory service with the government, whether to be closer to their families or other reasons.
Yii urged MoH to prioritise Sarawakians when making new offers, especially if they are to eventually be posted in Sarawak to address the urgent need for doctors, particularly in rural areas on a long-term basis.
As it is, he claimed many Sarawakian doctors and other healthcare workers serving in Sarawak, including in rural areas, have yet to be offered permanent posts.
He said this may seem unfair, especially to those willing to serve and fill the urgent need for healthcare workers in rural areas.
He called on Sarawakian Deputy Health Minister II Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang to address this issue, as he would have better knowledge of the urgent long-term needs for more healthcare workers in Sarawak.
Yii said MoH must also be transparent on its selection criteria for permanent posts for contract healthcare workers.
MoH should announce concrete plans to resolve the long-standing contract issues among healthcare workers nationwide, including proper distribution and placements in places with urgent needs, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, he said.
According to him, transparency and clarity on the selection of the 203 contract medical officers offered permanent posts have yet to be addressed.
He said this is needed not only for greater certainty on selection, but also to remove any perception of favouritism, bias, or even discrimination in the process.
“If the criteria are more transparent and certain, then the junior doctors can be better prepared and know for certain what they need to work for in order to achieve their target in obtaining a permanent posting. This may resolve a lot of the uneasiness and feelings of being under-appreciated that they are feeling now,” he said.
He pointed out it has been over a week since Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba promised the concerns and demands of healthcare workers would be discussed in Cabinet.
“I would like to echo our earlier call for the government to offer a fairer deal to these contract workers. The best way we can appreciate our medical front-liners, especially for their service to our country during this pandemic, is to invest in them and give them better security of tenure, and of course a chance for them to further specialise in their desired Master’s programme under the government’s Hadiah Latihan Persekutuan (HLP),” said Yii.
He said this is in line with the government’s efforts to produce more specialists and improve the quality of healthcare.