The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has expressed concern over the circulation of poison pen letters on social media, and called for the Health Ministry to look into the reasons why its doctors are taking to social media to be heard.
MMA president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz reckoned that one likely reason is a lack of trust for the system, saying for victims of workplace bullying, every moment endured is significant, and that it can be disheartening when reports on bullying are met with sluggish response and minimal action.
“Doctors must respect due process by reporting incidents of bullying using official channels. We urge public healthcare doctors to either lodge a report via SISPAA (Sistem Pengurusan Aduan Awam), MOH’s MyHelp portal, MMA’s HelpDoc or make a police report rather than seek justice via trial by media,” she said in a statement on Wednesday (March 20).
Citing an incident at a Sabah hospital in September last year where a group of doctors had used MMA’s HelpDoc channel to report what appeared to be a clear-cut case of bullying involving specialists and several medical officers, Dr Azizan noted that the medical association had escalated the matter to MOH and was duly informed that the case was being investigated.
“However, the same complainants recently contacted MMA to report that the bullying has not stopped. This could mean that something is not right with the system,” she lamented.
“Therefore, MMA calls on MOH to establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the reporting and management of bullying cases, establish a timeline to complete investigations and resolve cases, look into limiting certain powers given to head of departments and hospital directors and include independent panel members in its integrity unit to allow for a fair hearing of bullying cases.”
According to Dr Azizan, MMA had previously put forward numerous solutions to combat bullying but none of these solutions were adopted.
She said many of the association’s proposals did not even entail any additional expenditure of public funds.
“MMA once again emphasises that bullying poses a grave risk to both patient and healthcare worker safety and must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” she stated.
“We applaud Health Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad) for stating his strong stand against bullying and hope that there will soon be engagement on the matter as there is an urgent need for systemic changes to ensure a safe and supportive environment for all healthcare professionals.”
Dr Azizan further noted that public healthcare workforce morale is currently at an all-time low given the five-year trend of resignations among contract doctors and specialists in the public healthcare sector.
“Failing to effectively address bullying will undoubtedly exacerbate this issue,” she added.
On Sunday (March 17), it was reported that a 43-year-old doctor from Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh had lodged a police report regarding a poison pen letter he had received and that had also gone viral on social media defaming him.
Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm Yahaya Hassan said according to their initial investigation, in the letter, the doctor and several staff were accused of carrying out several inappropriate acts especially against housemen working at the Orthopedic Department. – March 20, 2024
Main pic credit: WISE Workplace
