Two-year govt contract on top of housemanship for medical officers

PUTRAJAYA: The government wants all housemen to serve a mandatory two years as medical officers upon completing their two-year housemanship.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Medical Act 1971 will be amended to make the two-year post-housemanship service compulsory.
He also said the amendments will include the Bahasa Malaysia pass requirement.
Currently it is not compulsory for the housemen to serve as medical officers in government hospitals after completing their housemanship.
Ahmad Zahid said the Health Ministry will work on the proposed amendment with the Attorney General's Chambers.
"The Cabinet has decided to remove the BM requirement waiver given to housemen and contract medical officers.
"We have decided to retain the requirements of pass in BM in all positions in the public sector," he told a press conference after the post-Cabinet meeting here today.
He added that no waiver will be allowed for BM for any public service position.
"BM is national and official language of the Federation as provided in Article 152 of the Federal Constitution and the National Language Act 1963/67.
"The Cabinet is committed in upholding Article 152," Ahmad Zahid said.
He said in 2003, the waiver was given because there were many foreign housemen and medical officers taken under contract.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam said all local medical graduates must pass Bahasa Malaysia at SPM level before undergoing housemanship and absorbed as contract medical officers.
Clarifying the recent issue of the BM waiver, he said he decided to revert the 2003 BM requirement waiver for all housemen to be appointed as contract medical officers in 2015.
"In November 2015, we wrote to the Public Service Department to remove the BM requirement waiver for contract medical officers.
"And PSD has written back to the ministry early 2016 agreeing with the decision," he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Medical Association president Dr Ravindran R. Naidu said the compulsory pass in BM in SPM for medical graduates is not fair.
Given the position is contractual, he said it is unfair to impose a pass in the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper.
"While we emphasise a pass in BM is a must, this should only be for permanent positions, not for contractual positions," he said to theSun.
Dr Ravindran explained that medical graduates have to undergo a two-year housemanship in government hospitals and serve a two-year contract with the government before they can get their registration as a doctor.
"It is only after these four years that a doctor is free to go elsewhere, be it to open his own clinic or to work in a private institution. This is a government requirement," he said.
He also pointed out that similar requirements do not exist in other fields like law, engineering or education.
"A law student after finishing his studies can go to any law practice and continue training. There is no such requirement for any other field besides medicine. If a medical graduate does not serve the government for four years, he can never become a doctor here," he emphasised.