YOURSAY | Pressure mounts as contract doctors dig in

 

YOURSAY | ‘Ministers enjoy full perks while some doctors are treated like construction workers.’

At breaking point - at least 15 doctors resigned in last two weeks

Mario T: This is a desperate cry for help from young men and women whose only request is to be recognised and be given a sense of job security.

At this time of tremendous demands on the health services that has pushed human tolerance beyond the realms of sanity, the only hope is some form of compassion, assurance and understanding that the issue of permanent employment of the contract doctors is given priority.

Cyclonus: Politicians and ministers enjoy full salaries, benefits and preferential treatment while some doctors are being treated like construction labourers.

These selfless people are the ones deserving of at least fair treatment. What are our ministers and senior government servants doing?

OCT: The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has no interest in resolving issues. The cabinet is more interested in politics.

The cabinet meeting is for them to discuss how to manage Parliament meeting this coming week. Their own survival is top priority.

All other matters like contract doctors, shortage of hospital beds and empty Covid-19 vaccine syringes are of no concern or interest to them.

Which minister has done an outstanding job in the fight against the pandemic? None. On the other hand, the health minister is famous for his faux pas.

No ministers have been reprimanded or dismissed for their failures. All ministers can do what they like with impunity. With nobody in charge, how can problems be resolved at all?

Pity the contract doctors and patients without beds. The government has failed big time.

YellowGecko9040: Just resign; you are not going to get anything by trying to hold the government to ransom - that is how they will see it.

When I say ‘they’, I mean the Public Service Department (PSD), not the Health Ministry. The Health Ministry would have tried unsuccessfully many times to get more posts from the PSD. The stumbling block is the PSD.

Why do you think many specialists resign even in niche areas where there is a dearth of available specialists in the Health Ministry?

The commonest reason is there is no career pathway, there are no promotions. They are given KPIs to achieve, which they almost always do with the bare minimum of resources, yet nothing comes their way.

Even funding to improve their speciality or services for the public are denied. After a while, they give up and leave.

The department hawk over all civil servants (especially the medical line) and behave like little Napoleons. This runs across the board from low-level clerks to directors. Why?

Because they have the authority to do so and they flex their muscle. Ask any government doctor about their experience at Health Ministry offices run by the PSD.

The PSD in turn will blame the Finance Ministry, saying that there is no money allocated to fund all these new posts in the long-term, including pensions. Just take out the pension and put them in the Employees Provident Fund instead. But no, they refuse because of the usual line: no money, no post.

So, the cycle keeps repeating itself and you see the problem at the level of these contract doctors. In reality, it goes even higher up amongst the senior clinicians.

A common saying in the Health Ministry amongst many senior clinicians: You (the clinician be it junior or senior) are replaceable.

So, don’t hold your breath with your doctor strike. I believe that you all deserve a chance, but for a problem that was identified yonks ago, to either turn a blind eye to it till now or to continue feeding you all a false hope; I don’t see the government bending over to your demands, unfortunately.

Your services are truly appreciated and will be missed by the public (but not the ruling government).

GreenMarlin8987: @YellowGecko9040, yes, most of us are shooting at the wrong targets.

The root cause of the problem is still not solved until today - the overproduction of medical doctors from our present approved universities, albeit with a much lower qualification needed for the entrance.

The end result would be a mind-boggling lopsided demand and supply problem and the need to accommodate the mediocre amongst the real talents.

P Dev Anand Pillai: The situation and resignations are indeed worrying, but the government cannot be bothered as we have greater supply than there is demand.

So, it will continue as long as private education is not properly checked for standards to be maintained and an acceptable level of output of graduates be maintained so that they can be usurped by the civil service.

LimeSinga1592: Doctors and teachers are unique in the sense that their jobs are to provide healthcare and education to the citizens. As such, they are mostly hired by the government.

With that in mind, the government has to regulate how many become doctors and teachers per year to be able to hire them and give them reasonable salary.

At the next level is controlling the quality of doctors and teachers produced (that's another subject).

My question is whether the government controls intake or are there other much stronger forces out there to override the government’s attempt at regulating the number of doctors and teachers?

Gaji Buta: We complain about a bloated civil service, but when the government tries to control or limit staff numbers, people are not happy as well.

Having said that, most public hospitals were crammed like sardines even before the pandemic. So, it would appear there is need for more hospitals, hence doctors, but we have not invested in sufficient new facilities as the population grew and new technology became available.

YellowCat1156: I've always advised since five years ago, much to the dissatisfaction of many parents, that medicine does not guarantee you a job.

Many said their sons or daughters wanted to help the people. Altruistic no doubt, but once reality of life sets in, those admirable objectives count for very little when it comes to loans and the like. Harsh, but true. - Mkini