Doctors’ group says some hospitals refuse to adopt complaint mechanism, but claims house officers misconstrue harsh training as bullying

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has today accused several hospitals of refusing to cooperate with a mechanism that would allow junior doctors to report their grouses, cases of bullying and any complaints in the workplace.

The umbrella group for doctors in the country also said since 2016 it has provided a helpline called HelpDoc which has received over 120 complaints — including 36 involving bullying — but admitted that there may be more unreported cases due to the poor adoption of the system.

“The problem is there are ‘black sheep’ hospitals who do not take measures to ensure grouses are looked into and this information comes from the Ministry of Health (MOH),” MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said in a press conference here.

“The MOH had set up a system whereby senior clinicians are given the task to look after the welfare of the trainee doctors, and they had also put in place a system whereby trainee doctors could bring up grouses and complaints which will be looked into.

“We launched the HelpDoc helpline for this purpose so justice can be done without fear of reprimand as we recognised that the fact cases of bullying would rise or never be reported for fear of being singled out for further punishment,” he added.

Dr Koh was commenting on the recent death of a junior doctor from Penang Hospital, which is being investigated as sudden death. 

The death has sparked a national discourse on the treatment of junior doctors with revelations of severe bullying, overworking, sexual abuse and harrassment in the workplace.

Some doctors have since taken to social media to air their grievances and experiences, but some have accused detractors of having an agenda to attack the healthcare system.

Despite that, Dr Koh downplayed the severity of the issue that has gone viral. He claimed that some junior doctors may not be prepared for the harsh working conditions of the medical profession.

He also claimed that some junior doctors misconstrue harsh remarks of their seniors as abuse or bullying, and dismissed accusations of senior doctors behaving inappropriately in modern times.

Dr Koh claimed the harsh treatment were just some senior doctors’ way of teaching their junior colleagues.

“You have to go through harsh training during your housemanship so you will be best prepared once you’re in the field. One should not take the differences between the generations as an excuse to say that work for a previous generation will not work for a younger generation. 

“Patient care has never changed throughout the generations and hopefully never will or it will relegate all doctors just to mechanical robots with no heart at all,” he claimed.

Dr Koh also told prospective doctors and their parents to not think that being a doctor is an easy career path.

“Don’t be misled by complaints by those who clamour for the easy life of a doctor. Life as a medical practitioner is never easy," he said.

Police in Penang have recorded statements from doctors and housemates of the deceased.

Acting Timur Laut district police chief, Supt V. Saravanan said the investigation on the cause of death of the 25-year-old victim is still ongoing.