The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said it was unfair that contract medical officers (MOs) who completed their two-year housemanship were graded lower on the salary scale than those absorbed as permanent doctors despite both doing the same job.
The fresh doctors who are under contract are currently given a U41 grade compared to the U44 grade for their permanent colleagues, and are paid RM364 less.
“The pay is not very much different but it is about the recognition. We must ensure justice for all doctors,” Dr Kevin Ng, who heads MMA’s Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists, told a press conference today.
Other bodies present today were the Malaysian Medics International (MMI), Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (IMAM), Malaysian Dental Association, and Section Concerning Dental Officers and Specialists (SCODOS).
Ng said equalising their salaries would cost the government about RM11 million annually.
The contract positions were first introduced in 2016. Presently, fresh doctors who underwent their two-year housemanship must serve a two-year stint as medical officers at government hospitals.
The government, however, has no obligation to take them in as permanent staff or extend their contracts, resulting in many of them entering private practice or becoming academics.
The issue came to light after medical group MMI called for a review of the contract system for doctors at public hospitals, saying contract staff do the same job for less pay.
Last week, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad defended the contract system, saying the government was unable to absorb all medical graduates as it was subject to available vacancies at hospitals.
Dzulkefly later said the government would address the plight of contract housemen.
Ng said there should be longer period of contracts for MOs, adding that a six-year contract would be ideal to give doctors the opportunity to specialise. A doctor may opt for specialisation after four years of practice.
He said from the first batch of contract MOs, only about half of them were absorbed as permanent staff.
MMA president Dr N Ganabaskaran warned that many of them may end up being jobless.
MMA meanwhile welcomed the health ministry’s call to open up 21,000 new positions.
“We have enough public hospitals to sustain the appointment of more permanent doctors.”
Ng agreed that in the long run, there is a need to control the number of medical graduates from over 350 recognised medical programmes offered by local and international universities.
But he said revoking recognition for the programmes was unfair to current students.
He said one long-term measure would be to introduce entrance exams for students to qualify to study medicine and a common licensing exam to ensure a uniformed standard.
He said another way is to increase the RM1 non-emergency outpatient consultation charges at public hospitals and government clinics in order to increase funding for the public health sector.
He said an increase of between RM1 and RM5 would generate an extra RM110 million a year.