KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — An unlikely TikTok video has enthralled Malaysians — Dr Khairunnisa binti Mohamad Khalil’s casual reveal of her roughly RM60,000 monthly salary has earned the TikTok account of salary transparency movement @malaysianpaygap over 85.6 likes.

Some users expressed surprise that a medical consultant could earn so much. Others commented that it wasn’t surprising at all, and that they knew consultants who easily earned around RM100,000 monthly.

Of course there was a fair amount of envy. After all, Dr Khairunissa earned more in a month than many Malaysians earned in a year.

According to a study by the company behind productivity software Time Champ, the average salary in Malaysia is RM6,610 making Dr Khairunnisa’s earnings around ten times the average salary.

Yet one user on X (formerly Twitter) @poovendrasv called Dr Khairunnisa’s example not one to aspire to.

"The younger ones don’t be fooled into thinking this is possible now. When she did her master programme 10-15 years ago, things were different. Now the workload and low pay will kill you before you even get there.

RM5k salary in 2010 =/= RM5k salary in 2024. Factor in inflation.”

Many agreed. One X user said earning RM5,000 in 2010 was the equivalent of an RM5k salary in 2024.

Another aspect of the situation is the reality that it is extremely difficult for doctors to quality as specialists.

Former health minister Dr S. Subramaniam told CodeBlue said Master’s programmes alone had limited places to train specialists, with only 1,000 slots available while there was an average 4,000 housemen vying for those places annually.

Some users also said that such salaries also came with tradeoffs such as longer hours and higher expectations.

One X user @Iamraffffffff said that private hospital doctors said doctors often have their own rooms but that also had space for them to sleep, and often making their offices their second homes.