Consider 10-year contract extension for public medical officers: MMA

The government is urged to consider the contract extension of up to 10 years for the Health Ministry’s medical officers to facilitate absorption as permanent staff, urged the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).

In a statement today, the association’s president Dr N Ganabaskaran said that while it is laudable for the government to give a six-month extension for those medical officers, as well as dentistry and pharmaceutical officers as announced yesterday, it still needs to look into permanent solutions concerning positions in public healthcare.

He said that the six-month extension would assist especially those whose contracts have ended during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it still amounted to a short-term solution that does not address the issue of the need for career continuity and opportunity.

The MMA is asking for a 10-year contract extension for medical officers "to allow for specialisation and gazettement before absorption as permanent staff for successful specialists to provide the much-needed services to the country."

“The other relevant issue of the lack of available permanent positions has also not been addressed. When the ministry had previously requested for 22,500 positions, only 10,000 were granted, leaving us still in a shortfall.

“The government needs to ensure that the growth of the healthcare services to meet the population growth is matched with an increase in permanent positions to ensure that services are not compromised,” Ganabaskaran said.

Yesterday, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said that the government has extended the contract service of medical, dentistry and pharmaceutical officers in the Health Ministry for a period of six months.

He said the approval involved the contract extension of 79 medical officers in grade UD41, 852 dental officers in grade UG41 and 1,139 pharmacy officers in grade UF41 which would be managed from time to time.  - Mkini