The number of sackings involving civil servants in the medical sector is among the highest in the country, chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa said yesterday. 

This includes hospital interns who have been absent from work up to hundreds of days.

"There are hospital interns, also known as housemen, who go missing for up to 400 days at a time. They were let go because of this. 

"Perhaps they cannot perform their duties in a real-life situation due to work stress whereas other medical practitioners have been doing so since (the days of) Independence," Ali said after a visit to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang yesterday. 

He was commenting on a report from the Health Ministry's disciplinary committee that new officers undergoing housemanship had failed to turn up for work for a long period of time.

He said the Public Services Department (PSD) and the ministry should resolve the issue as this had an effect on the professional reputation of medical practitioners and the country's image.

Ali said medical officers who often "disappeared" from work should remember the sacrifices of their parents, who had spent hundreds of thousands of ringgit to pay for their studies. 

Ali also denied Malaysia having the highest number of civil servants, saying such comparison is incorrect because the definition of civil service differed in every country.

- Bernama