PETALING JAYA: Capping the number of students pursuing medical degrees at university has been prescribed as the panacea to resolve the problem faced by contract medical professionals.
According to the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), universities are churning out too many medical graduates every year, and there are not enough places in the public medical service to accommodate all of them.
“We have to go to the root of the problem, and that starts with limiting the number of students for admission to local universities to pursue medical degree courses,” MMA president Datuk Dr M. Subramaniam told theSun.
He described Malaysia as the “champion in producing doctors”. The country has more doctors per capita than needed.
As of last year, Health Minister Datuk Dr Adham Baba said, there was one doctor for every 454 persons in the country, surpassing the World Health Organisation recommendation of one for every 500 persons.
Subramaniam was responding to an announcement by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that the contracts of all junior medical officers, dental officers and pharmaceutical officers will be extended by another two years once they have completed their mandatory service to ensure they have the chance to progress to becoming specialists.
Those who have been accepted for specialist studies will have their contracts extended for up to four years.
Medical officers on contract have complained that they are lowly paid, that they miss out on a slew of benefits and there is no clear pathway to becoming specialists.
Subramaniam proposed the government regulates all medical colleges in the country by capping the intake of students by at least 50%.
“We should also stop sponsoring students for undergraduate medical courses abroad given that we already have 32 fully functional medical colleges,” he added.
He said the initiative will take up to five years to bear fruit, but it is an essential step in the right direction. “Otherwise, any action now will just be like treating the symptoms, not addressing the cause,” he said.
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye described the government’s latest offer as just an “interim solution”. “The core issue of career advancement and specialist training remains unresolved,” he said.
Lee said doctors who are working permanently for the government and those who are on contract are treated differently. “A new policy should be introduced to ensure they receive equal remuneration and benefits in accordance with their workload and responsibilities,” he said.
In a media statement on Sunday, Malaysian Medics International (MMI) said greater clarity on the latest offer by the government is needed.
“We need more details on the implementation of the plan and the benefits that contract doctors will receive. Such details must also be made available to all current contract healthcare professionals,” MMI said.
It said the implementation of the plan alongside future and long-term initiatives will safeguard the sustainability of the healthcare system.
A contract healthcare professional in Subang Indah said the extension is acceptable but only for now.
He does not agree that medical professionals should go on strike or resort to any other form of protest as a way to make their case for a better deal. “This will only cause unnecessary and further chaos and uncertainty for the people,” he said in an email sent to theSun.
“As a doctor, we are bound by our pledge to serve the people and I believe we should not be indulging in protests and demonstrations as this goes against what the medical profession stands for,” he added.
At about 11am yesterday, groups of doctors at various hospitals displayed placards to highlight their dissatisfaction over their status as contract doctors.
