By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Aug 8: Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has urged the Health Ministry (MoH) and Public Service Department (JPA) to abandon the necessary bureaucracy and make clear the procedures for a contract doctor to enter the public service without ambiguity and delay.
Tiong in a press statement today said MoH and JPA must clarify as soon as possible the appointment of contract doctors and the procedures and standards involved for their conversion into permanent post.
“I will be writing to MoH including the secretary general of the MoH (Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah) and also to JPA to request that the relevant departments simplify the red tapes and make clear the procedures and prospects for a contract doctor to enter the service without undue worry and ambiguity.
“These departments must abandon the necessary bureaucracy now.
“The same departments have constantly refused the requests of contract doctors due to insufficient permanent posts,” he said.
Tiong, who is Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president, also questioned MoH and JPA on the decision not to provide more permanent posts to doctors during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
He noted that since the implementation of the contract system in 2016, less than five per cent of contract doctors have been promoted to full positions, adding that the criteria for absorption into permanent posts have never been made transparent.
Thus, Tiong added many contract doctors who were devoted to the medical profession had looked for other alternatives.
“It is most urgent for the government to analyse the statistics on government hospitals and health clinic growth in recent years and rationally allocate their human resources to retain our contract doctors in the public health service.
“At the same time, I will also push for the renewal of Bintulu doctors whose contracts are about to expire in order to retain their service in the hospital,” he added.
On the other hand, Tiong who is also the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China, said contract doctors also faced inequality at work without equal pay.
“I want to also point out that contract doctors from either Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah and Sarawak local itself have stated that they face inequality at work without equal pay.
“They have clearly all been similarly invested and plunged into the high-pressure and intense work on the same level as full time doctors.
“Benefits and allowances have all been curtailed, which has made the contract doctors feel underappreciated and uncertain for their future,” he pointed out.
With that, Tiong called on the federal government to urgently address the issue of contract doctors immediately.
“Why can’t the director-general of Health be more considerate and lenient to these doctors by recognising this sacrifice and focus on the greater good of serving the people first?
“Moreover in the current pandemic situation, contract doctors are some of the first to be sent to the frontline while full timers such as medical officers are given more leeway.
“Why can’t the administration adopt a more equitable system to fairly assign medical staff in managing the pandemic?,” he asked.
Likewise, Tiong said he will further discuss with MoH on the need for clearer job prospects for contract doctors and to dispatch medical officers to various hospitals fairly and minimise unintended consequences to the public. — DayakDaily
