Dzulkefly clears air over doctors who resigned in last 5 years

 

Dzulkefly Ahmad said brain drain remains a significant challenge across all industries, including healthcare. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad clarified tonight that half of the 6,000 doctors who had left in the last five years were contract medical officers who resigned to transition into permanent positions.

In a post on X, Dzulkefly said the resignation of the 3,200 MOs was “part of established procedures”.

Additionally, he said, some doctors moved into academia and were arguably still contributing to strengthening the public health sector.

“That said, brain drain remains a significant challenge across all industries, including healthcare.

“While we admittedly aren’t able to stop our MOs and specialists from moving to the private sector, we nonetheless have introduced several strategies to retain them,” he said.

On Friday, Dzulkefly was reported as saying that a total of 6,417 permanent and contract medical officers resigned from 2019 to 2023.

The ministry also recorded the resignation of 1,046 medical specialists within the same period, with 63 opting for early retirement.

The report led to nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah questioning the ministry’s retention strategies and wondering if it was the case of them “simply closing eyes because things are going on ‘as usual’”.

Rafidah also said that “things on the ground” were not okay and there was a need to break the vicious cycle.

In his post, Dzulkefly said some of the short-term measures the ministry was implementing to retain MOs were salary adjustments, flexible work schedules, and permitting locum practices.

“We shall remain committed to continually improving the work-life balance and overall welfare of our medical professionals,” he said.

He also said the ministry had a medium-term measure in its “Rakan KKM Partnership”, which he described as a game-changer, to reduce the attrition rate of healthcare professionals. - FMT