The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has criticised the Health Ministry’s latest round of permanent placements for its healthcare staff and urged improvements.
This came as the ministry nears the completion of the acceptance process of 4,907 contract healthcare workers being offered permanent positions, including 4,263 medical officers.
The MMA said it has received hundreds of complaints regarding the eHousemen (eHO) system used for the process, which the group described as “disorganised” and “messy”.
Contract medical officers use the system to apply for a permanent position, select their placement, and choose whether to accept the position.
The five-phase process began on June 9 and is slated to end tomorrow.
However, the MMA said many doctors claimed they did not get their desired placements.
Many are currently in positions such as registrar, coordinating house officers, or operating independently to perform surgeries and bedside procedures.
“This sudden movement of experienced doctors will affect services in that healthcare facility as new doctors that come in have to be trained from scratch,” it said.
The feedback was garnered after MMA’s Section Concerning House Officers Medical Officers and Specialists made a call via its social media and instant messaging channels for doctors’ opinions regarding the eHO system.
Of the 154 doctors who responded up to 11am today, 126 (82 percent) reported not getting the desired placement, of which 110 reported being in the aforementioned job positions.
In addition, 56 out of 68 respondents (82 percent) pursuing a specialisation were not offered their desired position.
The MMA said these doctors have already passed a parallel pathway paper or taken a Medical Specialist Pre-entrance Examination (MedEx).
“Some of the comments given indicated that these doctors were already in a postgraduate pathway but were forced to transfer halfway.
“Transferring such doctors will jeopardise the production of specialists as it will affect postgraduate training,” it said.
Some respondents also reportedly claimed that their healthcare facility is severely short-staffed. Yet, they could not opt for permanent placement at their facility because it was not reflected in the eHO system.
“States such as Selangor, Malacca, and Sarawak, which have healthcare facilities that need more staffing, were not available to be selected.
“There were also multiple complaints of system errors and crashes forcing respondents to wait for the website to reload before being able to make their choice,” it added.
It urged the Health Ministry’s human resources department to ensure transparency in the transfer process.
This is by releasing a list of all healthcare facilities in the country, the number of doctors needed at each facility, and the number already working there.
The department is also told to formulate a pathway that gives priority to doctors already on a postgraduate path, to ensure the training of new specialists will not be affected.
It said that issues causing the eHO system to crash need to be fixed to ensure all doctors have a fair opportunity to make their choices.
Earlier today, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced that the Public Services Department has offered 4,914 contract healthcare workers permanent positions to fill this year’s vacancies.
The figure comprises 4,263 medical officers, 335 dental officers, and 316 pharmacists.
The placement process for dentists and pharmacists was completed on June 8.
Zaliha said only five dental officers and eight pharmacists did not choose their placements by the closing date.
For doctors, Zaliha said up to Phase 4 of the process, 3,405 medical officers have chosen their preferred placements, including all permanent positions offered in Peninsular Malaysia.
“There are still vacancies in Sabah and Sarawak that have not been chosen. As such, all these vacancies will be offered to reserve candidates,” she said.
The ministry has also received 1,000 appeals from contract officers to be kept in their current placements for various reasons.
The reasons involved family and health concerns, refusal to be placed in East Malaysia, separation from their spouses, or affecting their postgraduate studies.
Zaliha also said implementing the new placement would mean short-staffing in some healthcare facilities. One measure to mitigate this is to deploy fresh graduates to those facilities starting next month.
“Based on the Health Ministry’s records, there are 3,226 medical officers who will complete undergraduate training or compulsory service in stages from June to December 2023.
“As such, 675 medical officers will be deployed immediately from July 2023, followed by 1,150 officers in August 2023.
“The next steps will be implemented as soon as the officers complete training or compulsory service,” she said. - Mkini
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