KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said he personally agreed that the hourly allowance of RM9 for doctors on-call during weekends be reviewed.
Lukanisman said such a review was needed on top of their salary, fixed incentives and allowances as they worked long hours.
Some of the allowances the doctors receive are incentives for critical care, specialist treatment, for operating on a patient and for working in health clinics.
Lukanisman was responding in the Dewan Negara to Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran who wanted to know if the current rate of RM9 per hour would be increased this year.
Lingeshwaran said the rate was lower than that of a Grab driver, and that such rates had led to doctors joining the private sector and creating a brain drain.
In response, Lukanisman said: “When it comes to the on-call allowance, they are paid according to the number of hours they put in outside office hours, and it isn’t an additional one or two hours. They record dozens of hours.”
Lukanisman went on to relate an anecdote about a patient who had asked him to thank a medical officer.
“He told me he met the doctor in the morning and met the same doctor the very next day. It’s like they didn’t sleep, they were like zombies.”
Lukanisman said the ministry was serious about resolving the issue and had proposed measures suggested at town halls to the newly appointed health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
In November, the Malaysian Medical Association criticised the ministry for rejecting the proposal to increase the hourly rate to RM25. - FMT
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