This comes after the ministry defended the quantum of the allowance, despite the doctors’ demands for a raise as the rates have stagnated for a decade.
In a joint statement today, the groups said the ministry should be more concerned with the well-being of doctors, and take the initiative to discuss these issues with associations representing healthcare providers before making such “inaccurate” statements.
The groups, consisting of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (Imam), Hartal Doktor Kontrak, and Malaysian Medics International (MMI), called for the ministry to retract its statements on the matter.
Yesterday, CodeBlue reported that the ministry disputed hourly calculations of the allowance on weekends and public holidays. Government doctors previously said they were paid only RM9 an hour for on-calls, lower than certain retail staff (RM10 per hour) and cleaners (RM20 per hour).
The ministry claimed that the calculation of the ETAP rate – by dividing RM220 (the rate for public holidays and weekends) with 24 hours (RM9.16 per hour) – was not accurate.
“Payment of ETAP is based on the period of time that the officer is instructed to perform on-calls (minimum four hours’ work), and does not include the officer’s regular working hours,” it said.
The doctors’ groups said a review of the ETAP rate is timely as the last revision took place in 2012.
“Is it appropriate to use the rate decided 11 years ago, when the cost of medical inflation rose by 9% every year? Salary and allowance adjustments should be done appropriately, in line with the rising cost of living, or once every five years,” their statement said.
They also said engagements by the ministry with groups representing medical officers for the revision of ETAP and other allowances was a “must”, to ensure that the rates commensurate with the working hours and duties.
At a town hall meeting with health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa in February, MMA had proposed a 178% increase in doctors’ weekend on-call claims to RM25 an hour from the current hourly RM9 rate.
Doctors in public healthcare noted that their counterparts in Singapore are paid RM60 an hour for on-calls. A specialist doctor working in a government hospital in Sabah also previously pointed out that the length of on-call duty on a weekend often stretches beyond 24 hours.