KUCHING, April 14 — DAP’s Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen today urged the Ministry of Health (MOH) to give priority to contract medical doctors from Sarawak to serve in the state on a permanent basis.
He noted that out of 102 medical officers posted to Sarawak by the ministry, 28 of them declined while two others quit the government service.
“Out of 102 permanent posts that have been offered, how many of them are Sarawakians?” he asked in a statement, referring to a circular issued by the ministry dated April 9.
“While there may be understandable reasoning behind those who rejected the offer, but I urge the ministry to prioritize Sarawakians when making the new offers, especially if they are to eventually be posted in Sarawak to address the urgent needs of doctors, especially in the rural areas.
“There are still many contract Sarawakian doctors that are serving in the state, but are yet to be offered permanent postings,” he said, pointing out that they may understand the culture, traditions and even the local languages better and may adapt better to the different environment especially in the rural areas.
“Over the years, many Peninsular Malaysian doctors have come over and served the state to the best of their capacity and helped fill up the need for doctors.
“We are highly appreciative of all their contributions and service to the State.
“However in most cases, the arrangements are not permanent and they are eventually transferred back to their respective home states after their compulsory service or due to different valid reasons including being closer to their families,” Yii said.
“That is why I urge the ministry to prioritise Sarawakians when offering positions or postings to Sarawak as they are the ones that will likely stay in the state and serve for long term,” he added.
Yii said this will address the issue of lack of doctors on a long-term basis and reduce the turnover of doctors due to transfers which may also be an inconvenience to these doctors themselves especially those with families.
He said the government should be fair and allow these contract Sarawakian medical officers to receive equitable remuneration and similar grade as the other permanent medical officers before.
“Currently, this batch is only at a UD 41 civil service grade instead of the higher UD44 that is normally awarded for permanent medical officers.
“UD 41 MOs, in general, earn about RM8,000 less annually than UD 44 MOs even though they do the same job, have similar workload and responsibilities.
“The core issue that the ministry needs to address is actually the ‘intake’ criteria or criteria of selection when it comes to choosing who gets the permanent position and who gets continued on contract.
“The whole selection can be more transparent so that there is not only greater certainty in the selection, but also to remove any ‘perception’ of favouritism, bias or even discrimination in selection.
“If the criteria is more transparent and certain, then the junior doctors can be better prepared and know for certain what they need to work for in order to achieve their target in obtaining a permanent posting,” he said.
