Adham says no action to be taken against Perlis 'hartal' doctors

 

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba has denied that disciplinary action will be taken against contract junior doctors who participated in the Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) protest at Tuanku Fauziah Hospital in Kangar, Perlis.

He said so in response to concerns raised over a letter that went viral on social media, purportedly penned by the Perlis Health Department to obtain from the hospital a report on the demonstration and a list of junior doctors who took part in the July 26 strike.

“My instructions have been made known to all the state Health Department directors that no action should be taken,” Adham told Malaysiakini in a text message.

“The information that I received is no action to be taken against the participants of the #HartalDoktorKontrak strike,” he said.

He was referring to a purported letter penned by state Health Department deputy director Dr Mohamad Zamri Kamis to the director of the hospital on July 29.

“As you know, there was a HDK demonstration at the Tuanku Fauziah Hospital. As such, you (the hospital director) have been requested to give a report concerning the demonstration to the Perlis health director along with a list of names of the contract doctors involved before or on Aug 6,” states the letter sighted by Malaysiakini.

Efforts to obtain a response from Zamri and the state health director, Dr Sirajuddin Hashim, have not been successful.

On July 26, hundreds of contract junior doctors nationwide went on strike to demand better job security and career prospects, despite receiving threats of disciplinary action from their superiors.

Government junior contract doctors risk losing their job after the end of their five-year training at government hospitals.

HDK had said that being on contract also means that they do not receive certain perks compared to their colleagues in permanent positions, including equal opportunity to further their career into specialisations.

Both the police and the health minister had said no action would be taken against the doctors for participating in the protest. - Mkini