He said such a move was needed to prevent losing these specialists to other countries which offer them hefty salaries.

Zahid explained that the government had spent a huge sum of money in the education and training of these highly qualified professionals, but those other countries had not even invested in advanced training for certain areas of expertise for their own people.

“I think it is high time the PSD looked at the salary scheme and structure of these professionals to avoid losing them to others.

“Although we know that (the brain drain also) involves other sectors in the civil service, we certainly do not want to lose (those) in the medical field,” he told a press conference after launching the national-level Transformation with 1Smile Together (TW1ST) Programme 2017 at SM Sains Bagan Datuk here today.

Also present was Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya.

Zahid, who is also Bagan Datuk MP, said Malaysia had great potential in health tourism, which was now being promoted by the tourism and culture ministry, as the country had good facilities and the cost of treatment here was much lower than other countries in the region.

“The specialist hospitals (in the country) are of the same standard as those in other countries.

“I think Malaysia has great potential in health tourism and we must retain our experts so that they can give something in return,” he said.

As such, Zahid requested the PSD director-general to address the issue of migration of professionals to other countries.