THE government is looking at extending the contracts of its medical officers to allow them to pursue specialisation, Health Minister Adham Baba told the Dewan Rakyat today.

A decision is yet be reached, however, he said.

Adham, the Tenggara MP, was responding to a question from Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang-BN) on whether there were plans to provide contract MOs with similar benefits as permanent MOs since their job scope is the same.

Adham said the ministry has prepared for the cabinet a proposal to streamline the UD41 and UD43 civil service grades as the job scope for both grades is the same but the pay scale is not.

The pay scale for UD41 contract MOs is between RM2,947 and RM9,656 with an annual increment of RM225 while permanent MOs in the UD43 grade are paid between RM3,611 and RM10,560 with an annual increment of RM250.

Permanent MOs can apply for the Hadiah Latihan Perseketuan (HLP) to have the government sponsor their specialist training.

Those who do not get the HLP  could pursue specialist training via a parallel pathway, he said.

Adham said this in response to a supplementary question from Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) on the delay in promoting UD41 civil service grade officers to UD43.

The decision to promote them was made by the former Pakatan Harapan government in November last year, Yii said. – August 25, 2020.