GEIS-新闻详情

Malaysia's junior doctors to go on strike, most deployed at Covid-19 treatment centres and hospitals

2021-07-23 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

KUALA LUMPUR - Covid-19 treatment centres and hospitals in Malaysia face the prospect of disruptions next Monday (July 26), as thousands of junior doctors are set to go on strike.

They are walking off their jobs over demands for permanent employment and other benefits, which they say have not been met by the government.

Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK), which translates to Contract Doctors' Strike - a group that has been organising the strike for weeks while negotiating with the government - has warned hospitals and state health departments of the impending strike which could involve up to 20,000 doctors, many of whom are at the front line of the battle against Covid-19.

"Contract doctors in Malaysia have agreed to participate in this strike to express their dissatisfaction with how the issue is being handled today," HDK said in an undated letter seen by The Straits Times. It is believed to have been sent to hospitals and health departments on Thursday.

The majority of junior contract doctors in Malaysia are sent to Covid-19 treatment centres and hospitals, and HDK called on them to arrange for adequate replacements next Monday.

In mid-July, the junior doctors took part in a "Black Monday" campaign in which they came to work dressed in black to register unhappiness with their poor employment terms, an issue that stretches back to 2016.

It appears that matters have since deteriorated. Dozens of junior doctors resigned with 24-hour notice in the days leading up to the strike, citing burnout as Covid-19 admission rates at hospitals throughout the country hit record highs, overwhelming the health system.

HDK has said that the doctors are being asked to work for extended hours with no extra pay, and were barred from taking up locum work at vaccination centres run by the private sector.

Led by several contract doctors, HDK warned on its social media platforms that Malaysia's healthcare system was showing signs of failing, with the lack of space at hospitals for patients coupled with doctors quitting.

"The doctors' rights are for the people's rights," it said on its Twitter account on Thursday.

Junior doctors who join the public healthcare system after 2016 have been offered only contracted positions, which have been periodically extended. Malaysian medical graduates need to serve at least 4？ years in the public healthcare system before they can switch to private practice.

The contracted positions involve lower salaries compared with those of permanent doctors. They are also not entitled to the slew of benefits extended to civil servants.

Aside from job security, the doctors are also denied a viable pathway to become specialists in their field of choice, as the government provides paid study leave benefits for permanent doctors only.