KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Hundreds of junior doctors and medical officers at several public hospitals nationwide staged a walkout yesterday to express dissatisfaction with the government’s treatment of contract doctors.
Contract doctors hold aloft placards demanding equal treatment as they go on strike at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital July 26, 2021. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri The Cabinet has also agreed to extend the contractual appointment to a maximum of four years for medical officers and dental officers who are pursuing specialisation studies during the contract period of the first two years. stated that contract doctors are demanding to be treated in the same way as their peers who were appointed on a permanent basis, citing unequal treatment despite being tasked with similar responsibilities and job scopes.
Yet five years later, some 23,000 contract doctors in government service who have graduated still find themselves ineligible for equal treatment and job security which is manifested in their inability to pursue a specialisation programme, federal scholarship for the Masters programmes and lowered remuneration when compared to their other peers.
Yesterday’s “hartal” was a milestone for contract doctors seeking to pressure the government to provide job security for tens of thousands of their colleagues, but it will not be the last.