Plan underway for contract doctors union by year-end
Efforts are underway to establish a contract doctors union by the end of the year.
Heading the initiative is the team behind the Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) movement that organised mass walkouts back in July.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, HDK representative Dr Mustapha Kamal said the goal is to give contract doctors a stronger voice in demanding...
Efforts are underway to establish a contract doctors union by the end of the year.
Heading the initiative is the team behind the Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) movement that organised mass walkouts back in July.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, HDK representative Dr Mustapha Kamal said the goal is to give contract doctors a stronger voice in demanding improvements to their working conditions.
“Our short-term plan is actually to resolve contract doctor issues.
“We think that if we have an association or union, our voices will be heard better rather than as an NGO,” he said.
Mustapha shared that HDK was currently working on a name, logo and constitution for the union.
“Probably before the end of the year, we hope we can have everything settled and have the union registered,” he said.
Thus far, they have consulted the Human Resources Ministry’s Trade Union Affairs Department on setting up the union.
They will first need to hold an inaugural annual general meeting to pass a motion to establish the union before registering the entity with the department.
The HDK movement has been campaigning for an end to the current "two-tier system" where trainee doctors employed on contract at government hospitals are ineligible for local postgraduate scholarships to become specialists.
They are also not guaranteed permanent posts after their five-year contract.
This is on top of a lack of transparent criteria for deciding which graduates obtain a contract or permanent training post in the first place.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has promised to work with HDK to find solutions to these problems.
Unionising civil servants
Unlike doctors, Mustapha noted that other civil servants had their own unions.
This included the Malayan Nurses Union (MNU) for nurses and the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) for teachers.
There is also the Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs).
Mustapa underscored the need for a contract doctors union as he believed existing groups like the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) functioned more like NGOs.
“We want a union (that functions) as well as the British Medical Association and the Korean Medical Association.
“...where we can picket, voice our views and bring issues to the government,” he said.
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