Give equal opportunity to all junior doctors to specialise locally - MMA urges gov't

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has urged the government to provide equal opportunity to all medical officers to pursue their specialist study at local institutions.

This comes after Health Minister Dr Adham Baba recently said it was up to contract medical officers (MOs) - who are not eligible for scholarships for local public post-graduate programmes - to pay their own way or obtain scholarships if they want to embark on a specialist study abroad.

In a statement today, MMA president Dr N Ganabaskaran (above) expressed concern that Adham’s stance will lead to a deluge of talent leaving the country.

“Should we encourage more doctors to leave for training, we will see less and less returning to serve.

“The brain drain of professionals seen in Malaysia over the course of the years has been great and should we continue our current arrogance, we may lose even more,” Ganabaskaran said.

This, in turn, could lead to a further shortage of specialist doctors and a plunge in the quality of the healthcare system.

Ganabaskaran said that there were just 8,000 specialists at both public and private hospitals when projections indicated that 13,000 were needed by 2020. 

He also pointed out that just 51 public hospitals had specialist doctors. As of 2017, the Health Ministry had 135 public hospitals.

“This matter is a matter of national concern, for without the continuity in training, we shall see a shortfall of specialist doctors in the future, and with it, our ability to continue to maintain the high standards of healthcare we are used to,” he said.

Rather than encourage contract MOs to pursue further study abroad at their own expense, Ganabaskaran said the government ought to ensure all junior doctors had fair access to local training programmes.

“To safeguard the health of our country, we will need to ensure that there is equal opportunity for the junior doctors to continue their training and to continue to serve the people of Malaysia,” he said.

Under the present system, contract MOs are not eligible for Hadiah Latihan Persekutuan - a full scholarship provided by the Health Ministry for doctors to pursue specialisation at public universities while working.

They are also paid a lower salary than permanent MOs.

Questioned during the current Dewan Rakyat sitting about this, Adham explained in a written reply that permanent MOs were given priority to pursue specialisation studies to “ensure the country has sufficient specialists and that the people have access to specialist services”. - Mkini