3,000 contract doctors quit civil service in past 3 years, says ministry

 

As at the end of last year, there were 14,511 contract doctors serving the health ministry. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: A total of 3,046 contract doctors resigned in the last three years, according to the health ministry, a figure a senator described as troubling.

In a written reply to Dr RA Lingeswaran, the ministry said 924 contract doctors had left the civil service last year.

A total of 1,354 left the service in 2022, while 768 had quit in the previous year.

Among the reasons cited by contract doctors when quitting the civil service were better offers in the private sector and public universities, personal problems and health issues.

Dr RA Lingeswaran.

Commenting on this, Lingeswaran said the number of doctors who quit the civil service was troubling. He called for an in-depth study into the actual reasons contract doctors left.

“The ministry must also find out if the contract doctors are leaving out of frustration because of the long wait for a permanent appointment.

“It could also be the long hours they have to put in while being attached to hospitals,” the former Sungai Bakap Hospital director told FMT.

Lingeswaran said as at the end of last year, there were 14,511 contract doctors serving the health ministry, adding that 6,478 were housemen and 8,033 were medical officers awaiting permanent appointments.

He said based on the ministry’s written reply, a total of 9,822 contract medical officers were given permanent positions from 2019 to 2023.

And over the next two years, the ministry targets to place 6,000 contract medical officers in the permanent service.

“The doctors affected will surely be happy if a study is carried out as soon as possible as it will deter them from leaving the government service,” he said.

In February last year, the health ministry revealed that a total of 3,386 out of 29,548 contract medical officers appointed by the health ministry had resigned from 2017 to 2021.

Then health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said one of the reasons they left was because they chose to join the private sector or other statutory bodies that offered more attractive remuneration.

Some also decided to open their own clinics, further their studies, migrated overseas or left due to personal reasons and health factors, including mental pressure, she had said. - FMT