THE Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) has applauded the Health Ministry (MOH), the Public Service Department, the Finance Ministry (MOF) and other agencies for the medium-term solutions for contract healthcare professionals.
On Feb 10 Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had announced that the Government will create more than 4,000 permanent positions for medical, dental and pharmaceutical officers by June this year.
“The MHC is particularly pleased with MOH’s willingness to listen to multiple parties and implement inclusive solutions,” the coalition said on this matter.
MHC further urged that the Government expedite the formation of the Health Reform Commission to ensure continuity of reforms without being held hostage by any political transitions.
“This proposal must be tabled at the earliest in Dewan Rakyat and we urge all Members of Parliament to unite behind the Health Reform Commission,” they said.
“The Health Reform Commission must be given the mandate and resources to strengthen and protect our healthcare system, including healthcare workforce welfare and development.”
The MHC, in noting that the country has a healthy number of healthcare professionals (HCPs), also pointed out that distribution inequality remained a concern, as most resources tend to congregate in urban areas.
As such, increasing the health expenditure to >5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will help employ more HCPs for a fairer distribution across Malaysia.
“Trade-off vacancies and periodically increasing posts are not sustainable. The transfer process within the MOH should be timely, transparent, and justifiable with evidence to ensure there are enough HCPs in places where their services are required.
“We urge the government to also improve incentives and allowances for those deployed to remote areas. These privileges must be given equally to both permanent and contract HCPs.”
The coalition went on to urge the Government to control the intake capacity of medical students in public and private universities.
“According to the Health Ministry’s Strategic Plan (2016-2020) the target ratio of doctors to citizens by 2025 was 1:400 and to achieve this goal the country requires 4,000 new medical graduates annually,” they explained.
“With limited permanent posts in Government, many had to go through the contract extension process. To compensate for the upcoming increase in permanent posts, we must ensure the intake of medical students is controlled.
“The roadmap in progress is highly called for, to assess the intake capacity and produce an optimal number of competent graduates.” – Feb 17, 2022
