Malaysia said it had axed the contracts of more than 100 foreign doctors and had no plans to hire more after complaints they were not turning up for work and lacked expertise.

Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek said the government had terminated contracts for 118 foreign doctors since 2003, including 43 from Pakistan, 36 from Egypt and 20 from India.

Another 698 expatriate doctors are still working for the health ministry but Chua said Malaysia would put a hold on fresh foreign hires, who are usually issued three-year contracts.

"Although we are entitled to employ another 600 more, we are not going to do it," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

Chua spelled out a list of grouses against the doctors, which included an inability to learn Malaysia's ethnic languages or English fast enough.

"Their contracts were also terminated for poor performance or other reasons like tardiness, being irresponsible when called to come for duty after "on-call" hours, not adhering to their rostered schedules or not having sufficient expertise," he said.

Not a freeze

However Chua insisted the government had not frozen the intake of doctors, originally hired to alleviate a shortage, especially in Malaysia's eastern Sabah and Sarawak states and rural areas, said Bernama.

"We do not intend a freeze. Freeze means an official policy which means that if we want to, we cannot do it," he said.

A health ministry spokesman told AFP that besides incompetence, serious language barriers meant many of the foreign doctors could not work properly.

"They can't speak English, Malay or Mandarin, and they can't communicate with the patients. This is very serious," he said.