KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) is set to investigate the issue of on-call hours for doctors in the public health sector, with reports suggesting that some are being required to work beyond 30 consecutive hours.
National daily Utusan Malaysia reported Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad as saying that such excessive overtime is not a widespread problem across all public hospitals.
However, he acknowledged the need for MoH to pinpoint the existing deficiencies in the medical workforce system.
“The ministry is actively examining all requests for workforce supply, and through this framework, we aim to address specific concerns,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that this issue is not uniform, highlighting the importance of understanding where the gaps and shortcomings lie within the system.
The issue first came to light after a group of doctors called on MoH to reduce shifts outside of regular hours, labelling the current conditions as “inhumane”.
Datuk Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira, President of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), told Utusan Malaysia that on-call shift hours must be humane, although this is contingent on the availability of doctors in each department.
He warned that excessively long working hours can deteriorate the quality of patient care, stressing that doctors who have served for 24 hours should be entitled to a rest period the following day.
