KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 12 — The Cabinet will discuss the long-standing problem of permanent employment faced by contract healthcare workers in the country in its upcoming meeting this Wednesday.

Dr Vijay Ganasan from the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said this was the latest update from the Health Ministry during their meeting last week.

"I think the meeting was quite fruitful compared to previous meetings, and we were told the issues with the contract system will be brought to the next Cabinet meeting,” he said in a virtual press conference this afternoon.

Dr Vijay, who is MMA’s Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists (Schomos) chairman, said the association is also urging the government to table the issue during the upcoming five-day Parliament sitting, which begins on July 26.

"However the more immediate response would be from the Cabinet meeting, which we hope will take place this Wednesday.

"Similarly we met with the Finance Ministry on June 25, and they had also said they will look into bringing the issue of contract healthcare workers up during Cabinet meetings,” he said.

Dr Vijay stressed that the need for additional permanent positions for all healthcare professions in the medical system is more crucial now than ever, in order to retain the country’s contract staff.

"Healthcare and education are the two crucial pillars in nation building. This makes the education of our healthcare professionals doubly paramount to ensure quality care for our rakyat.

"But a significant portion of our workforce in the healthcare sector is unable to further their education in the arts of healing, through no fault of their own. Being hired on contract terms since December 2016, the odds are stacked against our junior healthcare staff to acquire specialist degrees and post-basic training,” he said.

This results in many young Malaysian healthcare workers leaving the country to seek greener pastures elsewhere, which will grow more problematic over time but has become more urgent in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although Dr Vijay said that given the choice MMA would rather give all healthcare workers permanent positions, he acknowledged that it is not a feasible option in the long-term.

"We believe the intake of permanent medical officers should be done via merit, but the system to do so needs to be proper, where current contract officers will know how to progress throughout their career.

"For example, if a doctor finishes his or her housemanship, where will they go? Will they get additional points if they decide to work in the districts? There needs to be a proper criteria for doctors in this respect,” he said.

Academy of Medicine of Malaysia master Dr Rosmawati Mohamed said the lack of permanent positions for healthcare professionals in Malaysia has resulted in severe personnel shortages for a number of medical specialties.

"When compared to other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations, Malaysia is at least one-third short of specialists. Per the population to specialist ratio we are nearly four for 10,000, while for other OECD members it is 14 to 10,000.

"The specialties with a lack of available personnel vary, but these include oncologists and anesthesiologists. In particular this is more acutely felt in a lot of places outside the main cities. Having more permanent medical officers with the chance for stable career progression would help to address this problem,” she said.

MMA Schomos representative Dr Timothy Cheng said the existing contract system is not a bad thing in of itself, but would require considerable overhaul to be able to function more efficiently.

"The current implementation of the contract system needs to be revamped since there are a lot of criteria which need to be set out, as many contract doctors have no way to become specialists, for example,” he said.

The MMA and its fellow healthcare workers’ organisation also marked today as Black Monday, the culmination of the 12-day long Code Black campaign spearheaded by MMA.

Code Black’s aim is to stand in solidarity with contract doctors, pharmacists, dentists, nurses and all allied healthcare workers. Over 15,000 estimated healthcare workers have come out in support of the campaign on social media since its launch.

A petition to heal the contract system was also launched, to call upon the government to provide clear postgraduate pathways to specialisation for contract doctors and allied health professionals, to publish a detailed and transparent ranking system for appointment to permanent positions, to provide equal and fair treatment for contract and permanent staff, and to assure job security for all doctors and allied healthcare workers.

Those interested in finding out more or signing the petition can visit http://www.change.org/saveMYcontractHCW for further details.