COMMENT | Unite in support of government healthcare workers

COMMENT | We, the Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists (SCHOMOS) - the Malaysian Medical Association's government doctors division - call on all 220 MPs to take heed of the chronic, serious issues affecting Malaysian government healthcare workers.

Since 2019, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has brought these issues to the attention of the ministry and cabinet but to no avail. If they continue to be left unaddressed, these issues will worsen the healthcare system of Malaysia, directly affect the wellbeing of the “rakyat” and indirectly cripple our economy.

Lack of human resource in Public Healthcare

Our doctor to patient ratio is currently at 1:454 according to the most recent reports. This is falsely reassuring as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended ratio does not factor in the impact a pandemic would have on healthcare. In comparison, Singapore has a doctor to patient ratio of 1:399 while in the US, with its high population, the ratio is 1:277.

This scenario was clearly seen during the recent outbreak in Sabah where clearly there was a problem with the distribution of healthcare workers. In fact, many hospitals in the country could not be converted to Covid-treating hospitals due to the lack of human resource as well. Besides this, the ratio has to also take into account the demands for subspecialists in the country. Are we reaching our subspecialty goal?...