Next govt must fulfil healthcare promise, says association
KUCHING: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) reminds all political coalitions contesting in the 15th general election (GE15) that they must deliver on promises stated in their manifestos and during their campaigning, should they be voted in as the new government.
According to MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai, some of the promises made for health include resolving the contract doctors.
“This is an issue that the new government needs political will to resolve as it would involve the intake of medical students, the medical schools, the housemen training programme, the contract system, the longterm human resources planning and budgeting, as well as the creation of permanent posts.
“We hope that these promises would not be conveniently forgotten once the coalition elected is given the power. The new health minister must aim to resolve the issue within the first 90 days in office.
“Addressing the contract doctors’ issue needs to be given urgency because as many as 3,000 medical graduates (new doctors) enter the public healthcare system each year,” he said in a statement yesterday.
It is informed that currently, there are only 1,500 permanent positions given to contract doctors each year.
“The public healthcare system is also facing a shortage in manpower as can be seen in the overcrowding and long waiting time at government healthcare facilities,” said Dr Muruga.
The new health minister would need to look into the planning of human resources and creation of posts, while taking into account the number of years needed to train doctors and specialists, he added.
“Specialists need more years in the system to be trained.”
Dr Muruga also said the 2023 Budget would need to be tabled again and debated by the members of Parliaments.
“We hope to see an increase in the allocations for health.
“Will the new government be bold enough and committed to healthcare reforms with an increase in its health budget to five per cent of the nation’s GDP for 2023?
“Importantly, there must be transparency in the management of healthcare allocations.
“We must keep up the momentum for reforms as the people are expecting improvements and even more so once the GE15 concludes,” stressed Dr Muruga.