I wish to pen this issue to express my disgust and let Malaysians know how backward the government is in its ability to think prior to implementing a rule. As a surgical field specialist and having evolved from the downtrodden life of a house-officer to a specialist in the government sector, I’m not keen on highlighting the problems that most doctors face in government hospitals.

Much have been told to the public regarding a government doctor’s life: long working hours, improper remuneration and many more, that most of us are fed up talking about.

I represent a group of house officers, medical officers and newly qualified specialists who are ever thriving to take up the challenge of the famous adage “Service above self”. We are facing different sorts of problems, mainly a hospital administration which is outright determined to make doctors’ lives miserable in whatever way possible, at least the doctors who are posted to East Malaysia like Sabah, in particular. Do you know why doctors get put off when they get posted to the east? Is it the workload? The facilities? The people? None of these!

Let me take you to a life of an individual specialist, Dr K, whose journey mirrors the others. Being in the 10th year of government service, this poor fellow has served the states of Johor, Pahang, Selangor and WP Kuala Lumpur as ordered by some clerk who invariably signs as “Saya yang menurut perintah”.

Dr K has never defied his beloved ministry’s order. In love with his profession, he put his family second in importance. Dumb fellow. He was lured by the promises of the ministry’s messengers, namely his superiors, of small perks like allowances and the opportunity to undertake a fellowship programme.

He was taken away from his family, in the hope of a better future. Little did he realise what was waiting for him. Approaching the state hospital as a new specialist, he concluded that he wanted to make a change to the lives of patients under his car and make the best of the minimal provided.

Some facts have to be highlighted prior to proceeding. Reporting for duty is both exciting and grueling. Exciting - new people and place, grueling - the number of forms to fill. Housing allowance is provided to government staff irrespective of where you come from. In peninsula, it is called “Imbuhan Tetap Perumahan (ITP)”. If you are transferred to Sabah or Sarawak, you’ll get the “Elaun Pindahan Wilayah (EPW)”, the latter being more, considering the higher cost of living. The bottom-line is it is a housing allowance.

When Dr K applied for what he was qualified for, EPW, the hospital administration staff was happy to throw a bombshell at him. He was asked to produce his parents’ birth certificate. You heard me loud and clear. Yes, not his but his parents! (The very same ministry was paying him the housing allowance for nine years without even knowing whether he had parents or not!).

If that’s not enough, he was told that he will be denied his hard earned pay for at least four months because the State Account General will take four months to verify that Dr K is Dr K despite being in service to the same ministry for the last nine years! By the way, the SAG’s office is 20 minutes from the hospital. But he is required to work, with no questions asked for four months without salary.

It will be interesting to know that if this happens to a specialist transferred from the peninsula, what will happen to the poor house officers and medical officers. Dr K was in dire straits. He has car and housing loans to service, two children to feed and educate, various bills in peninsula as well as Sabah to pay. He has already received a lawyer’s letters demanding payments which have indirectly lead him to be denied of any loans in the future. Having done two years of pre-med, five years of med school and four years of a backbreaking masters’ programme, Dr K was at the mercy of a SPM dropout clerk to determine his salary payment.

He sought for help from his superiors who only had ample of moral support to give. This happens to many of us here in Sabah due to the lackadaisical attitude of clerical staffs.

We beg on a daily basis to the hospital administration to speed up the paperwork for us but the joy of denying a doctor his salary is too overwhelming for them. Many house officers face the same fate, threatened by the system which upon voicing justice would send him or her to the interiors.

Medical officers, immuned by inefficiency of the administration, continue serving the patients and the hospital, afraid of being denied Masters programmes or being labeled rebellious. Highlighting this problem even to the state health director bears no fruit. That’s how the system works and you are supposed to impregnate yourself into it. When questioned, invariably they point fingers to their superiors (who go as far as Putrajaya).

Several questions need to be answered. The Public Services Department insists on a peninsular-born doctor to produce his/her parents’ birth certificates to qualify for housing allowance if transferred to Sabah. This despite both parents being Malaysians and MyKad will not be accepted. Is this necessary to do public service?

There’s an unusual delay (about three months) in paying on-call, locum and transfer claims. Why the delay, as it involves only a couple of signatures by the hospital director and the accountant who works in the same hospital? Who can listen to our grouses and provide a reasonable solution to our paper-work related problems? Can the Director-General of Health help, as nobody in Sabah can.

Can the insensitive nature of the administration staff be changed or do we behave like them and say Malaysia Boleh? How do unhappy doctors serve the patients happily and politely? I guess many of these questions will remain unanswered and this cry of ours will be brushed aside as just another complaint.

I wish to re-iterate my statement earlier that we are not complaining about work but unnecessary paperwork burdened on us which takes us away from our joy of doing clinical work. We are exhausted of means to solve this inefficiency. I wish cries could be heard by the people over the other side of the South China Sea.

We weep not to serve but for the disservice we face. We also would like to advise our fellow colleagues and friends who intend to work in Sabah as government servants, or should you get a “Saya yang menurut perintah” letter, to have sufficient funds for four months at least, to survive the exorbitant cost of living. And start hunting for your parents birth certificates!