Health Ministry: One third of 300 permanent position offers rejected

 

The Health Ministry said it had offered permanent positions to 300 contract doctors this month, but a third of them did not accept the offer.

Health Ministry secretary-general Mohd Shafiq Abdullah said 85 of those offered permanent positions rejected the offer while another 15 resigned after accepting employment elsewhere.

“The Health Ministry takes this matter seriously because the opportunity for a permanent position should not be given up at this time when contract doctors are demanding the government to appoint them permanently.

“In this matter, a permanent position will not be offered a second time to those who have rejected the offer so that the opportunity can be given to other officers who are still waiting for their turn to get a permanent appointment,” Shafiq said in a statement today.

Of the 300 doctors who were offered, 150 had been offered permanent appointments in Sabah while the other 150 were given placements in Sarawak, he added.

As 100 individuals had rejected the offers, the vacancies will be filled from the remaining contract doctors of the same cohort, pending approval from the Public Services Commission, he said.

The Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) movement had been gaining momentum since last month, with contract healthcare workers organising a nationwide strike on July 26 where they staged a walkout from their duties.

The contract healthcare workers had demanded solutions to shortcomings of the contract system that had been in force since 2016, such as poor job security and uncertain future career prospects. - Mkini