YOURSAY | Hear the cries of our junior doctors

YOURSAY | ‘Junior doctors are contemplating a strike because there is nothing left to lose.’

MOs told of possible action during 'engagement' session if they join strike

DragonKing: I am really perplexed Health Ministry bosses or senior high-ranking officers did not utter a word of support for these junior doctors.

Senior doctors were once like them many years back. These senior doctors know the workload has increased exponentially along with the population in the past few decades. It is a blessing in disguise for our country that we have an increase in junior doctors during this Covid-19 pandemic.

It is sad to learn every country is struggling with a lack of medical personnel during the pandemic.

However, Malaysia by sheer luck has enough doctors at the right time to work during this pandemic. Yet these same doctors are treated like dirt while the higher-ups are enjoying the fruit of the juniors’ labour. 

Plecolitic: Our junior doctors are contemplating a strike because there is nothing left to lose. The Health Ministry is considering not absorbing them to permanent posts because of “tiada peruntukan” (no funds).

The Health Ministry should fight for our junior doctors instead of threatening the already very docile junior doctors. But that is unlikely because no one in the ministry is willing to risk their pensions, positions and perks for these poor junior doctors.

So, contract junior doctors serving in the Health Ministry, you are damned if you strike and you are damned if you don’t.

It is more virtuous to die trying than to be exploited. It is time the ministry gives recognition where it is due as these junior doctors have toiled selflessly during this pandemic. They are just asking for job security, is that too much to ask?

Mario T: These medical officers under contract have been providing their dedicated services under very trying and difficult conditions, which has become more challenging and demanding with the deteriorating public health situation.

I think the most rewarding gift that can be considered for these tireless health personnel is to grant them all a permanent position with the Health Ministry.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) has a bloated cabinet where more than two-thirds of them are just warming their behinds and earning fat salaries and allowances while those who truly deserve to be rewarded are treated like outcasts.

Please do not neglect these medical officers who need our support.

Mufasa: As medical professionals, their top priority should be providing the best possible healthcare services to the public. They should use appropriate channels to discuss their unhappiness with the relevant health departments/agencies/ministries.

As all of us are aware, the whole world is in crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic and seriously needs full support from healthcare professionals to fight Covid-19.

Organising and participating in a strike is irresponsible and against their professional ethics. I hope they will reconsider their plans and focus on their responsibility as healthcare professionals.

YellowCat1156: Although I feel these junior doctors should not be stifled in such a way, any form of strikes or demonstrations should not compromise the care and safety of patients.

Will there be enough staff members if the majority of junior doctors decide to go AWOL (absent without official leave) to join such demonstrations? And anyway, isn't any form of congregation banned during this movement control order (MCO)?

I believe that the glut of medical graduates from so many medical schools is the core of the problem.

Headhunter: You know your country is in trouble when doctors are finding it hard to get employed or get paid peanuts.

Just imagine what the situation is for the other professions. If you graduated with a plain degree, don't set your sight too high in terms of getting a cushy job.

IndigoKite6964: Many brilliant Malaysian doctors live and practice overseas, and many more will go and join them. The request to give permanent placements along racial lines and not merits just don't help either.

Is that why many of our politicians and leaders get treatment overseas and at across-the-strait hospitals?

Just A Malaysian: Like everything in Malaysia, we overproduce at mediocre quality.

Doctors, pilots, pharmacists, PhD holders, engineers and such are all being churned out without a balance with demand or an eye on excellence. We are a country of low-quality paper mills.

Imagine we have close to 23,000 unemployed doctors. Our non-expanding economy and our low-cost manufacturing strategy need foreign cheap labour more than qualified engineers.

This country is so badly run we fail even to provide opportunities for our young educated generation. Leaders should stop playing racial politics and start to earn their pay by working hard to develop this country.

OCT: Indeed, the government is very poor in manpower planning. Too many doctors but too few teachers. Politicians and doctors don't see eye to eye. They are not on the same page.

Politicians serve themselves first. Doctors serve patients first. Politicians don't have a code of ethics whereas doctors swear on the Hippocratic oath.

Politicians can tell lies and get away with it. Doctors can be sued for telling lies, disciplined or sacked for negligence and incompetency. See the world of difference between politicians and doctors.

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