The value of a Malaysian doctor and its health-care

LETTER | Call it shocked, disturbed or with disgust, my feelings were after reading a newspaper report on about 1,500 contract medical officers (MOs). 

They are among the frontliners managing the Covid-19 pandemic but could be unemployed within two years because there are no more vacant posts.

They received letters from the Ministry of Health (MOH) stating that their contracts had been renewed for two years to May 14 2022 - on the UD41 civil service grade, with no extensions. 

Their salary package remained despite taking on the same workload and responsibilities as doctors with a UD43/44 grade. They are also not eligible to join the local universities' Masters programme for specialisation.

If you or your children are one of them, how would you feel or react? Can I say as good as “habis manis sepah di buang” (when sweetness has been drained, the carcass gets discarded) or worse.

When introduced in 2016, the information was sketchy and the government is more or less the same today.

Between 2010 and 2019, MOH’s budget was approximately RM222 billion and RM30.6 billion for 2020 or below four percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For comparison, Singapore budgeted close to five percent of GDP.

Just visit any of the public hospitals especially in the Klang Valley. We are short of hospital staff. Our doctors ratio is only at 1.6:1,000 (Singapore - 2.3:1,000). Even Algeria and Libya is better.

The ministry’s director-general stated that they are underfunded, understaffed, underpaid, overworked, overstretched and with facilities overcrowded with patients. 

The Auditor-General’s reports have also been highlighting the severity of the situation. The Malaysian Medical Association had warned the government that the public health-care system may face a burnout.

We understand there may be restrictions in the government finances but there should be a mechanism in resource allocation where certain ministries may need a smaller budget.

Besides, there were revenue losses when stamp duties were exempted for house purchases and monies spent on the house ownership campaign last year. The developers who are making lots of money should absorb these costs.

One area to look at is the private hospitals. It is only natural for a "brain drain" towards greener pastures. Overall, it would be good for medical tourism but will leave a big hole in the public hospitals. We know the private hospitals and the private clinics in them makes some very handsome profits.

I would suggest for the government to impose a temporary levy on them to assist the MOH until such time when the severity of the situation is reduced.

Covid-19 is sort of a blessing as it exposed the real position in our health-care system.

Internally, MOH should critically look at the monopoly over the provision of drugs, project management and other administrative reforms to reduce costs.

We need to ensure our health-care system continues on a long-term to provide quality, affordable and health services that is accessible to all Malaysians.

The Health Minister should be in a position to provide some good ideas as a prescription to achieve this aim.

By the way, a year ago, Malaysia with a score of 95 out of 100, was ranked first in the Best Healthcare in the World category of the 2019 International Living Annual Global Retirement Index due to its world-class health-care services and sophisticated infrastructure.

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