Business as usual at hospitals despite strike threat

Government hospitals appear to be operating as usual today despite threats of strike amongst contract doctors.

Checks on the ground by Malaysiakini found that public hospitals such as Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Hospital Shah Alam remained in smooth operations with normal waiting times.

Several contract doctors working at Hospital Kuala Lumpur that Malaysiakini met with this afternoon said they were not participating in the organised strike, despite being made aware of it.

Meanwhile, a nurse at the hospital also told Malaysiakini that they had not noticed any doctors participating in the protest.

TV3 has reported that operations in Hospital Sungai Buloh were as usual. Patients told the station that there was sufficient staff present at the hospital today.

Johor Health and Unity committee chairperson Ling Tian Soon said there was no unusual congestion in the state's public health facilities, and the number of medical officers was under control.

Today’s protest, scheduled to take place until Wednesday (April 5) called on contract doctors to take medical leave, emergency leave or resign en masse.

The strike's organiser, Mogok Doktor Malaysia, told The Vibes that they expected at least 10,000 to 12,000 contract doctors to go on strike.

The group’s demands include that all contract doctors be given permanent positions, an increase in basic salary and on-call rates, and a resolution to staff shortages.

A contract doctor from Hospital Melaka - which is also unaffected - said many of their peers feel that the strike was not beneficial to their cause.

“Honestly, none of us here think it would help, and the fact that the organiser behind this is still unknown, makes it suspicious,” the doctor said on condition of anonymity.

The contract doctor, who is in the paediatrics department, added that the head of department warned doctors to not take medical or emergency leave for the next three days.

When contacted earlier today, Mogok Doktor Malaysia refused to respond to Malaysiakini’s queries about the strike claiming that the news portal was owned by “DAP or Pakatan Harapan-linked (political) parties”.

It added that Malaysiakini’s previous articles on the strike were “highly biased” and did not want to entertain the portal’s request for comment.

This is despite explanations from the journalist that the portal had also contacted the organisation last week for comment.

The identity of the individuals behind Mogok Doktor Malaysia, who have chosen to remain anonymous, has raised the suspicions of many.

Several netizens were spotted questioning if the group has links to Perikatan Nasional. Dr Aiman Alias - who is part of PN’s health committee, under Kuala Langat MP Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi - was also suspected to be a part of Mogok Doktor Malaysia.

When contacted by Malaysiakini, Aiman denied that PN had any links to this week’s strike.

“No, we’re not. I am part of PN’s health committee. We are just supporting their movement,” he said.

He claimed that PN had attempted to contact Mogok Doktor Malaysia as well to no avail, and had been unable to identify any of the organisers of the movement.

“So what we do is just leave a message to their Telegram group and say that we are supporting them, understand what they are going through and that we are here to help,” he added.

‘Right of contract doctors to protest’

Hartal Doktor Kontrak - which organised a walkout by contract doctors in July last year - has denied any involvement with Mogok Doktor Malaysia.

It said that it was the right of contract doctors to protest, but expressed hope that it would not jeopardise patient care.

"While we are not involved, we believe that it is their right to protest and leave the circumstances of the protest to them (Mogok Doktor Malaysia). We do hope patient care is not jeopardised and healthcare services can resume once the protests are done," it said in a statement earlier today.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said while its checks found no strikes taking place in any of the public healthcare facilities throughout the country, the government still needed to address public concerns.

This comes after Mogok Doktor Kontrak urged members of the public to avoid healthcare facilities on the days of the strike.

"The MMA has been receiving calls from the public asking if public health care facilities are operating, as usual, today and we have assured them that they indeed are.

"But we hope that the Health Ministry, through more frequent messaging through press statements and social media updates, will allay these fears and reassure the public that all public health care services are being provided without any disruptions," MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said in a statement.

Earlier, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa told the New Straits Times that government hospitals would be put on alert today to monitor if the strike would go as planned.

However, Zaliha gave her assurance assured that hospital and clinic operations would proceed as normal.

"We will ensure no disruptions to the operations of the ministry's health facilities, with health services provided to the people," she was quoted as saying.

Before the planned strike, the government had established a high-level inter-ministerial committee to look into issues related to contract doctors.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had asked that the committee be given time to come up with a solution.

Hartal Doktor Kontrak has asked to be included on the committee.

Separately, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had said that resolving the woes of contract doctors may take three years, and he gave his assurance that 1,500 doctors would get permanent jobs this year.

“If we were to give all 4,000 (permanent placements) as demanded, we will need more than RM10 billion a year. So this is impossible,” Anwar had told the Dewan Negara last week.

Reporting by Raveena Nagotra, Puteri Aisya Sufian, Phung Yie Wen, Alyaa Alhadjri

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