Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has hit out at a government proposal to allow specialist doctors to act as private practitioners after office hours.

The yet-to-be-registered party said that the plan will result in neglect of non-paying patients and deteriorating medical teaching standards.

PSM central committee member Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj stressed that only 30 percent of specialist doctors work in public hospitals but are tasked to care for 70 percent of the in-patients.

He added that these doctors are also responsible for teaching housemen, trainee specialists, nurses, other paramedical staff and organising quality control and system-review exercises.

"They are already over-worked and are often not able to supervise the young doctors under them closely enough. Allowing private practice after office hours cannot but lead to the greater neglect of the patients in the third class wards," said Jeyakumar in a statement.

The medical practitioner-cum-social activist was commenting on a recent announcement by Director-General of Health Dr Ismail Merican (left), that specialists from Putrajaya and Selayang hospitals will be allowed to practice in private after office hours in March.

The move is meant to keep doctors from leaving public service. Should the six-month trial prove fruitful, the scheme will be extended to all hospitals with specialists throughout the country.

Pay us better

Jeyakumar argued that the government should instead provide better remunerations to doctors by establishing a Service Commission for Health Care Workers and offering them a better salary structure similar to that of the National Heart Institute (IJN).

"The pay-scale in IJN is much better than that in the Health Ministry, but this is not due to supplementary income derived from private practice after office hours but by a better salary structure," added Jeyakumar, himself a chest physician attached to a private hospital in Ipoh.

He reminded the government that the World Health Organisation recommends spending five percent of GDP on health care, as opposed to present Malaysian government spending of 1.9 percent of GDP in the industry.

"An outlay on health is an investment in our people - and as the government itself often says our human resources are the nation's most precious resources," he said.