How is it that contract doctors may speak to the media when others in the public services may not? A group of doctors under the cover of anonymity have been using the media, threatening to cripple the health services.
Their threat of a strike by 8,000 contract doctors who will call in sick or go on leave, and the threat of 3,000 resignations en masse during that period, is absolutely unbecoming of professionals who have taken a solemn oath to save lives.
This is indeed a serious violation of the government’s general orders, and they should not be spared. When Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said civil servants should speak up when necessary, he was referring to cases of corruption and abuse of power.
By law, public officers cannot make any public statement that can harm a government policy, plan, or a decision. The regulation is pretty simple and straightforward – civil servants need to get the permission of their heads to issue statements or speak to the press.
Such a rule has been there since the beginning of the civil service and for a very good reason too. Because if they are allowed to do it freely, everything will spin out of control. No one is going to be spared and the consequences will be serious, especially with social media ever present everywhere.
Such rules also exist in our private sector. Most other countries too have this rule in place, and for the right reasons too.
In Singapore, officers are not allowed to speak to the media or post on social media in their personal capacity on issues relating to their own agencies or policies that they have been involved in without seeking the permission of their permanent secretary.
In the UK, the nearly 500,000 civil servants are only allowed to speak to the media with prior permission from a minister.
In India, the rules explicitly treat criticism of government policies on social media by government employees as a violation of conduct rules. And the threat of disciplinary action also includes caricatures that are critical of the government.
Look, there has to be a certain sense of decorum to be observed in any organisation. So, what health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa did by reminding the doctors of the regulation did not amount to a gag order as claimed. It was, I believe, a threat veiled in the form of a reminder.
So, the government should not keep silent when a bunch of unnamed contract doctors, who have been employed courtesy of the government to maintain the health of Malaysians, use the print, online and social media to hold the government at ransom.
These doctors have clearly violated government regulations in many ways. Even unions in the private sector must refer their dispute to the authorities and negotiate to go on strike if the problem remains unresolved. They can be sacked under the Trade Unions Act if they do so without following these procedures.
This act also makes it an offence to hold mass action like taking leave or sick leave in big groups which can affect the daily operation of any organisation.
In their corner, the contract doctors have the Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists (Schomos) of the Malaysian Medical Association which has been consistently taking up their plight with the ministry without fail.
The government has time again admitted that there has been an overproduction of doctors in the country. Bear in mind that it was the personal choice of the doctors to study medicine, despite being warned as far back as 10 years ago that they will be placed in a contract scheme soon because there were not enough permanent posts to go around.
And yet past and current governments have spent a considerable amount of money to keep them employed as contract doctors while trying to offer permanent posts periodically to as many as possible.
I checked with about 10 contract doctors on what is going on. They have absolutely no idea who is behind this. A few even described this action as “absolute nonsense”. They say the small group of doctors do not represent the 20,000 contract medical officers in the country.
“What are the 3,000 doctors going to do after they resign abruptly? The ministry should not take this threat lightly. They should trace the culprits and act against them for violating government regulations,” said a contract doctor in the Klang Valley.
Sometimes I wonder why the government is dancing to their tune most of the time. It is probably all related to votes as all political parties pledged to resolve the contract doctors’ plight in their election manifestos.
It is time to put these doctors in their places while the government works out their problem because they are still being paid. If they think they are not earning enough, they can do more locum service to make more money, something that many are already doing. Few other professions have this option to top up their income.
The health ministry is facing many problems in ensuring that ordinary Malaysians receive effective and equitable healthcare. The government’s priority right now is worrying about the growing health problems brought about by the rapidly rising ageing population.
This is the government’s priority right now and it should not be side tracked into worrying about an impending illegal action by doctors. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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