PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has assured that the process of transitioning contract doctors to permanent positions will be completed soon.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the ministry will also take into consideration the issue of replacements for the housemen, which was touched on in a recent engagement session with stakeholders.
"When being placed from a trainee doctor (housemen) to a permanent medical officer, there will, of course, be a replacement after that. So, God willing, we will take everything into consideration. We are concerned for the welfare of our staff," she said at the 2023 National level Know Your Medicines Conference here, today.
Dr Zaliha said that the High Level Committee (HLC) that was established had held engagement sessions with several ministries and related parties, including the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) to look in-depth at the issue of contract doctors.
"We have not yet presented the results to the cabinet, but this engagement will look at all angles," she said.
Yesterday, Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) warned that vacancies in government clinics and hospitals would disrupt the smooth process of the country's health services.
HDK claimed that the problem will worsen if the government does not take immediate action to resolve the issue of staffing for medical personnel.
HDK said although the government announced the permanent employment of almost 4,000 contract doctors, this indirectly created the latest crisis in the already critical healthcare sector.
They also described the permanent positions being offered as a commendable step to resolve the problem of staffing uncertainty, but when the doctors involved move to a new placement, a large-scale vacancy problem will occur in the departments, hospitals and clinics where they had served before.
"The projected shortage of medical staff during this transition period will cause a significant increase in the waiting time for patients in emergency departments and health clinics," he said.
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