Dzulkefly concerned over doctor resignations, lays out retention steps

Summary

• Over half of the 6,000 doctor resignations involved transition to permanent positions or move into academia.

• Health Ministry addresses retention with salary adjustments, flexible schedules, and the Rakan KKM Partnership.

• Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad reaffirms plans to establish the Health Service Commission to tackle systemic healthcare issues.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has dismissed accusations that the Health Ministry is “simply closing eyes” to the resignation of over 6,000 doctors in the past five years.

In a post on X, Dzulkefly clarified that more than half of these resignations involved doctors transitioning from contract to permanent positions within the ministry.

“It is important to note that this figure includes 3,200 contract medical officers (MOs) who resigned to transition into permanent positions as part of the established procedures.

“Additionally, some doctors have moved into academia, arguably still contributing to strengthening the public health sector,” he explained last night.

The minister’s remarks came in response to concerns raised by nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah, who questioned the ministry’s strategy to address the issue.

In her post on Dec 19, Rafidah described the situation on the ground as dire, emphasising the need to break the “vicious circle.”

Acknowledging the shortage of medical professionals and the challenges faced by overburdened and overworked healthcare workers, Dzulkefly admitted that the ministry could not prevent all medical officers and specialists from migrating to the private sector.

However, he outlined several strategies aimed at retaining talent.

Retention strategies

The minister mentioned short-term measures such as salary adjustments, flexible work schedules, and allowing locum practices to improve the work-life balance of healthcare professionals.

“On a medium timeline, our initiative of ‘Rakan KKM Partnership’ is a game changer of sorts to reduce the attrition rate of our Healthcare professionals through hopefully better remunerations, besides getting to improve public facilities through cross-subsidies from our new sources of revenues from Rakan KKM’s ‘premium economy facilities’,” he shared.

He added that the ministry works closely with the Finance Ministry and the Public Service Department (PSD).

“You know all too well that some matters fall outside the jurisdiction of the Health Ministry, which is why we are seeking PSD’s involvement to ensure these issues are resolved effectively and amicably,” he added.

Dzulkefly also stated that Seri Manjung Hospital in Perak would soon receive additional staff following recent media reports.

“I am aware that this issue is not confined to Seri Manjung Hospital but is a nationwide problem. The ministry will make every effort to address this pressing concern,” he said.

On Friday, health news portal CodeBlue reported that the ministry had denied allegations claiming the hospital was experiencing a severe staff shortage.

Reforms commitment

Reiterating his commitment to systemic reforms, Dzulkefly stressed the importance of establishing the Health Service Commission, a key initiative aligned with the Health White Paper.

“It is a reform we vouched to do from our early days of ‘reformasi’. You surely understand the kind of pushback we have to mitigate and overcome.

“This initiative will demonstrate a long-term commitment to addressing and resolving systemic issues within the healthcare sector.

“I must say that to achieve this onerous and gargantuan task, we need all hands on the deck,” he concluded.

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