Critical allowance cuts: Health sector wants gov't to get a second opinion

The health sector wants the government to get a second opinion on its decision to halt paying fresh recruits in the public sector “critical service incentives”.

The Malayan Nurses Union (MNU) hopes that the Public Service Department (PSD) will reconsider this, as does the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).

Speaking to Malaysiakini, MNU president Nor Hayati Abd Rashid (above, centre) called upon the government to enter into discussions with the union before implementing the cuts, slated to begin on Jan 1, 2020.

“We would like to urge PSD to reconsider and reinstate these critical allowances to young nurses.

“[...] I believe the government will always open the door for discussions, as before this we have been involved in many discussions with government departments in the past,” she said.

Staff nurses with a diploma or higher qualification presently receive a monthly allowance of between 10 to 15 percent of their basic salary.

According to a Dec 20 PSD circular, nurses, doctors, engineers, and other professionals who join the civil service from next year onwards will stop receiving the allowance.

A matron at Hospital Teluk Intan, Nor Hayati contended that the allowance cuts not only discriminated against new nurses, it would also discourage them from staying in the public service in the long run.

“The job description is the same. So if the existing staff can continue to receive this allowance, I think it would not be fair for them (the new nurses) [...] we don’t want to have this double standard for the staff in the future,” she said.

“Psychologically, it will demoralise them. The second thing is probably people will resign (from government service) to go somewhere else [...] this will be a brain drain, we will lose our nurses,” she added.

Nor Hayati, who is also the Malaysian Trade Union Congress’ (MTUC) public service sector vice president, noted that the allowances were first implemented as an incentive to retain nurses in the public sector.

“They introduced this allowance so that nurses won’t resign,” she added.

She said that the MNU presently has about 27,000 members, representing between 40 to 45 percent of all qualified nurses working in public healthcare in Peninsula Malaysia.

Meanwhile, MMA president N Ganabaskaran lamented that the government had not consulted any health professionals before ending the cuts.

"The rationale behind removing the incentive is hard to digest as the healthcare system is still critical to the development of the country and the reduction in the income is significant.

“We urge the government to reconsider and to engage the associations more when dealing with the livelihood of the civil servants.

"The civil servants should not be treated as a burden but instead recognised as assets to the country as the services provided, more so in the healthcare services, are essential," Ganabaskaran told Malaysiakini.

Meanwhile, Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat expressed concern that ending the critical allowance will cause health professionals to choose the private sector instead.

As such, he too said the government should reconsider, adding that civil servants need help coping with the rising cost of living.

PSD’s latest move appears to have caught Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad (above), as well as Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, by surprise, with the latter saying he disagreed with it.

This is despite the decision by a cabinet committee on civil service chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad which found that the affected jobs no longer meet the criteria of being hard to fill and had low recruitment.

The move has also received criticism from government backbencher Kelvin Yii, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and the Malaysian Medical Association.

Aside from nurses, government-employed nursing lecturers, doctors, pharmacists, medical officers, engineers, lecturers will also be affected by the allowance cut beginning next year.

The PSD has since said that it reviews allowances for civil servants “from time to time”.

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