Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
Contract doctors have been overworked and exhausted in times of this pandemic, while also not being fairly compensated and entitled to adequate benefits. #HartalDoktorKontrak is a trending hashtag that has gained online attention where contract medical officers (MOs) share their dissatisfaction with the government’s policy in the medical field.
Due to a lack of job security and restrictions of career development opportunities, the hashtag is also a movement that sees contracted junior medical officers go on strike as a last resort.
This is in hopes to apply pressure to the government if they fail to resolve the issues of their permanent placement contracts.
IRL conducted an interview with a medical professional to give his take on the current situation from the perspective of inside the hospital.
Who’s organizing this strike, and how big is it going to be?
So far, the strike has garnered the attention of an estimated 15,000 medical officers, though I can’t be too certain on the actual size. As for the originator, I believe it was an Indian doctor who suggested the movement, but all I know is that the page admin is likely to be leading the team.
What is the impact of the strike on the patients?
It’s a double-edged sword, the healthcare sector would obviously be affected, let alone in the middle of a pandemic. But progress isn’t gonna happen if everyone decides to sit still, we cannot be treated as scapegoats to government authorities.
From what I heard, the MOs would take necessary shifts for the strike to ensure minimal disruption to healthcare. Of course, this only applies to contractors as permanent doctors will remain fully available. Since according to the KKM, there are more than “enough” permanent doctors and contract doctors that will be of extra help anyway.
How do fellow doctors who are not a part of the strike feel about the strikers?
As shown on public social media postings, though most are supportive and understanding, there are always some who are too blinded by their own supposed superiority to acknowledge the sufferings of the post-2016 batch of doctors.
Why are the doctors striking? What are their demands?
Source: Facebook via MMA Schomos
Contract doctors do not have the luxury of receiving the same benefits as permanent doctors. Just last year, the government announced that contractors would only be extended if needed, which meant that after their 2-year compulsory services as MOs, they may lose their jobs.
Not to mention the toxic environment that allows toxic authorities to threaten their juniors with alleged misconduct reports ranging from small errors to attitude issues. Breaching tatatertib would result in warnings that would go on record and affect their chances of getting taken in as permanent staff.
Another issue is the dichotomy of opportunities presented to further their studies. Permanent doctors are guaranteed placements for their master’s studies in government universities, whereas contractors aren’t.
As a result, contract MOs would need to pay out of their own pockets for parallel pathways to become specialists, even though permanent doctors get 1k more than contractors each month.
In fact, contract MOs have the same pay as their housemen, maybe a few hundred difference at best.
So what they’re really asking for is job security, an equal opportunity to further their studies without the burden of their own funding like their fellow colleagues, and equal benefits, which doesn’t seem too much, right?
The aim is to be heard, and to put enough pressure on the government, permanent doctors, as well as the hospital administration who aren’t supportive.
Why isn’t the government acknowledging their demands? What’s the hold up?
My guess is the hold up is coming from a financial mismanagement standpoint.
Their demands are almost always shut down because there always seemed to be a reason of any sort by the government to reject taking permanent doctors in, like insisting that there are enough doctors and using high expenditures as an excuse.
But if I were to play devil’s advocate, I’d argue that the government could easily invest money in the education sector during this pandemic, where most of the staff would still be getting their pay while being in the comfort of their own homes.
I believe that there is a lot of corruption involved that makes it unclear as to why they choose not to provide additional funding for healthcare to grant contract doctors the same benefit.
It’s not easy to train specialists, and our healthcare will definitely not survive without them in the long run. But due to financial constraints, and to cater to the housemen turnover rate, they resorted to getting rid of junior MOs. Short term rectification with long term consequences.
Has there been any official response from the government to the strikes?
So far, nothing has been heard of other than back door schemes to identify the strikers. I believe they’re planning to instill enough fear to ultimately abolish the strike. A potential repercussion for ringleaders and strikers could be termination for sure, as well as legal consequences, similar to the Bersih movements previously.
The government recently counter-offered yet another 1-year contract extension for the junior MOs, yet there is still no solution in sight for the permanent positions or even the discussion on equal benefits.
Can you tell us more about the government counter-offer for a contract extension?
In my opinion, the extension defies the point of the moment, as it is only a mere trick to temporarily gag the contractors whose contracts are ending soon, and are worrying about joblessness, and at the same time curbing the issue of a lack of human resource in dealing with covid.
The strike was aimed to fight for permanent positions, for a chance to advance their careers into specialisation and end the contract system. Thus the strike leaders are advising the contract doctors to continue the fight instead of giving in to the temporary fix.
The government eventually announced that they do not plan to increase permanent MO positions and only a 1-to-1 replacement policy is in effect. So in other words, unless someone leaves, or unless the government decides to increase the number of MO positions, these contractors aren’t going to go anywhere.
Housemanships used to be incentivized with the higher chance of being absorbed into permanent positions if you did well. But lately, those MOships get even more difficult to earn regardless of how well we perform in our housemanships.
Do you have any additional comments?
The government and hospital administration regard contract doctors as disposable. Supposedly, you have experienced doctors in different departments who can contribute their time for covid rotations. Instead, they’re all staying where they are and letting the juniors take their place in covid services.
The thing is, the 2 years of compulsory services are important for junior MOs to further specialize in their respective departments so that they can acquire necessary skills to advance after covid. If they’re limited to only covid duties for those 2 years, what value would they have after covid?
Those who have finished their housemanships and are thrown into covid rotation will not receive enough exposure. This pandemic isn’t gonna last forever, and once covid is over, their experience on covid probably isn’t going to be worth much and might possibly even put them at risk of retrenchment.
But if they have permanent positions on the other hand, the government won’t be able to afford to get rid of them like disposables as they would be too valuable.
How should the public respond to strikes in Malaysia?
They should listen to the contractors and their legitimate complaints. I personally feel that many of the public don’t have a basic understanding of a doctor’s life. And with basic security and benefits ripped away from us, I feel that there is now a bigger need for us to be heard.
For more stories like this, read: An Open Letter From A Burnt Out Malaysian Doctor To His Mother and The Doctor Will See You Now: 5 Reasons Why Doctors in Malaysia Are Being Overworked
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