KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said today he will raise in Cabinet the issues prompting contract doctors into a possible strike next month.
In affirming that the matter was being addressed, Adham said the presentation for this was already being prepared and will be tabled at the next Cabinet meeting.
“It will be brought before the Cabinet and Cabinet papers are already being prepared to be brought forward for presentation to ensure several requests made to the ministry’s contract doctor scheme to be more beneficial,” he said during the weekly Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force press conference here.
Dr Adham then urged disgruntled doctors under the contract scheme to remain calm and patient.
According to Dr Adham, there were 35,216 medical officers appointed on contractual basis as of May 21.
This comes after a group of contracted medical officers proposed a work strike on July 26 over discontentment with the government’s contract system.
It is learnt that the disgruntled group of health workers have been gathering participants via social media to protest their alleged mistreatment by the government due to their status as contract staff, in a planned one-day nationwide strike dubbed “Hartal Doktor Kontrak Seluruh Malaysia”.
Before the strike on July 26, the group is also expected to submit a memorandum the the Ministry of Health tomorrow (July 1), followed by a media conference to highlight what some have described as “modern-day slavery”.
However, the campaign has also met with objections from the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), which have said such action was unacceptable with the Covid-19 pandemic ongoing.
Instead, the MMA’s Section for Housemen and Medical Officers (SCHOMOS) said it planned for a day of solidarity for contract doctors and reassured them that they were currently working with the authorities to resolve their issues.
Yesterday, MMA had also extended its call for the public to change their social media profile photos to black or monochrome, to join its “Code Black” campaign urging medical officers to wear black in support of the contract doctors.
