KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has appealed to the Finance Ministry and the Public Service Department (JPA) to provide the Health Ministry (MoH) the support it needs concerning the public healthcare system.
Following a townhall session with the Health Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday, MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai acknowledged that no immediate solutions were found, but stressed that the session was still an important step towards dealing with medical practitioners’ concerns.
“In the no-holds-barred session, house officers, medical officers (both contract and permanent), specialists and consultants spoke freely about their issues.
“Additional funding and creation of posts will be needed to resolve the human resources issues we are faced with. We understand from our meetings with MoH that the health minister has been in close engagement with both the MoF and the JPA,” he said in a statement here.
Dr Muruga said Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has shown her willingness to engage with healthcare workers, to listen and understand issues, and has promised that no action will be taken against any doctors bringing up issues.
As for issues raised during the session, Dr Muruga said they were divided broadly into two categories namely human resources and infrastructure.
“Under human resources, financial matters (long overdue on-call claims and salary revision), exploitation (bullying, working hours, wage theft) as well as issues affecting contract doctors and junior doctors, subject matter experts, and specialists were brought up.
“Under infrastructure, MMA highlighted the need for proper development and maintenance of both physical and digital infrastructure including standardisation and proper maintenance to prevent a collapse of electronic records systems,” he said, adding that MMA would be following up with the ministry on their progress.
Other issues highlighted were the need for transparency in MoH data, transparency in facilities assessments and the need for the reports on the fire at Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru to be released to the public.
The townhall session came following speculation that there was an unofficial plan for doctors to launch a strike in light of longstanding complaints about low wages, unclear career paths, increasing staff shortages, and insufficient facilities.
