‘Give Sabah and Sarawak docs permanent posts in home states’

KUCHING: Junior doctors, especially those from Sabah and Sarawak, should be given permanent posts to serve in their home states, said the Malaysian Junior Doctors 2020 (MJD2020).

The MJD2020 is a newly established group, which came about after 79 medical officers (MOs), who were offered six-month contracts to serve in various hospitals in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, approached Sarawak United People’s Party’s (SUPP) education bureau for help.

Doctors in Sabah and Sarawak were “unfairly treated” in the allocation of permanent posts in both states, said MJD2020 protem chairman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing and secretary Wong Ching Yong.

They noted that less than 10% of 100 permanent posts in Sarawak hospitals were given to Sarawakian MOs in January.

“Of the 100 permanent posts, 28 rejected and two resigned. The 30 posts were given to other MOs from other states.

“MOs from Peninsular Malaysia will not serve in Sarawak for long because Sarawak is not their home. Priority must be given to Sabah and Sarawak MOs for permanent posts in both states.

“The unfair treatment of MOs from Sabah and Sarawak is against the Borneonisation (of the civil service) as promised in the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” they said, claiming that at least four MOs from Sarawak were denied permanent posts without reason.

The group has written an open letter to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, 222 MPs and Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Ding, who is also SUPP education bureau chairman, and Wong said it was “inappropriate and unkind” to offer a six-month contract to the MOs, particularly in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“(The MOs) are risking (their) young lives to save the lives of others. But they will very likely be abandoned by the government after the expiration of the six-month contract.

“There is no bright professional future for (them) in this country if the Public Services Commission and Health Ministry cannot offer permanent posts or contracts of at least 10 years,” they said.

In addition, they said the government was obliged to offer permanent posts to doctors in view of the shortage of specialists in Malaysia.

They said doctors who had partially passed their postgraduate specialist examinations should be given priority for permanent post consideration.

“If not, these doctors can never become specialists. There are insufficient specialists in Malaysia, who only number about 7,000 in all,” they said.

Earlier this year, the SUPP education bureau had highlighted the plight of four Sarawakian MOs whose contracts were not renewed after they completed their compulsory service.

It urged the ministry to disclose the criteria for giving permanent posts to medical and dental officers after the four MOs’ contracts were terminated without reason.

In April, the bureau called for five-year contracts to be given to health officers after the ministry approved a six-month extension for those whose contracts were ending in 2019 and 2020.