Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said the relevant departments had been directed to make changes to address the issue of stress faced by trainee doctors who then went missing and could not be traced.
He said interns would also be given the option of completing their housemanship at other hospitals if they faced problems at hospitals where they currently served.
“If they find that working in one particular place is stressful, we can even give them the choice to go another hospital. See if the change can help them,” he told reporters after opening the Workplace Health Promotion Seminar 2017 here yesterday.
In this regard, Subramaniam said each year, the ministry found 20% to 30% of medical graduates could not complete their housemanship in two years due to stress at the workplace.
On Monday, chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa had revealed that doctors recorded the most absenteeism cases in the civil service and they mostly involved trainees who might be stressed out.
Meanwhile in his speech, Subramaniam said only 480,000 workers who were offered health screening programme vouchers by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) benefited from the facility as compared with 2.5 million eligible members.
“From 2013 to last year, 2.5 million Socso members aged 40 and above were given the free service but only 480,000 used their vouchers. Where are the other 2.1 million?”
He said it was disappointing as it showed workers took health screening lightly and employers were not concerned over the issue. Therefore, the minister urged employers who distributed the vouchers to ensure their workers were eligible for a rest day to carry out health screening.
“It is for the long-term benefit of workers and if there are health problems, they can be treated earlier,” he added.