PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has urged the health ministry to look into the distribution of doctors across the different states to tackle any shortage.
MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said such a shortage occurs because the doctor-to-patient ratio differs in each state, even though the patient load is similar.
“The health ministry and statistics department should study the actual trend in general and subspecialty cases in each state, and plan the human resources accordingly in order to balance the needs,” Koh said in a statement.
He added that state health departments must also plan around the distribution of junior medical officers, adding that the workforce cannot just rely on these temporary staff but on permanent allocations.
Koh also believed that the serious issue of medical officers resigning from the government service must be looked into to stop the “haemorraghing” of human capital.
Yesterday, the health ministry allayed fears of a shortage of doctors in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) and Hospital Tunku Azizah (HTA), with the upcoming exit of medical officers in the hospitals.
This follows an internal memo from HKL’s top management on a looming medical officer shortage “crisis” in the hospitals, following the exit of junior doctors from July 18. HTA is HKL’s women’s and children’s facility.
The health ministry said the memo issued by HKL’s management was purely for “internal coordination” to ensure the delivery of its health services would continue smoothly, especially at HTA’s emergency department.
According to the ministry, it had already planned for new medical officers from other states to be transferred to HKL and HTA on the same date that junior doctors currently attached to the hospitals are transferred out.
It said these transfers were a normal procedure. - FMT
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