The movement’s spokesman, Dr Mustapha Kamal, asked if the government was really serious about solving the contract doctors’ issue since it had been ongoing for five years.

“They’re doing it only now? Don’t tell me that no projections were made in those five years,” he told Utusan Malaysia.

Mustapha was responding to health minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s statement that the ministry was preparing a projection on the number of medical officers that needed to be appointed on a permanent basis.

Yesterday, Khairy told the Dewan Rakyat that since the end of 2016, more than 24,000 medical officers had been hired under contract by the ministry.

However, only 1,000 were placed in permanent posts.

“This is a legacy issue, and I’m not sure we can absorb everyone under contract, but we will look at what we need first,” he said.

Another spokesman for the group, Dr Muhammad Yassin, told Utusan Malaysia they were disappointed with Khairy’s statement.

“We have been waiting to be absorbed as permanent staff. Instead, we were given contract extensions. The question is why no projections were made before this and will it even be ready in the next five years?” he asked.