THE recent death of a houseman attached to Penang Hospital has brought the issue of bullying among junior doctors in government service to the fore. 

The Malaysian Insight spoke to junior doctors to find out if these claims are true, and those interviewed said it is a norm for juniors to be bullied by their seniors, be it about their work, race or gender. 

Many said they do not speak up for fear of repercussion and due to the fact that they are merely contract staff. 

A junior doctor from Kuala Lumpur said bullying in government hospitals towards housemen is very rampant. 

“The majority of it would be verbal abuse, whereby at times a small issue can escalate unnecessarily,” said the junior doctor who only wants to be known as Tan. 

He added that some senior doctors would scold a houseman in front of patients, which he finds very demotivating for both the houseman and patient. 

Tan said physical abuse rarely happens, but there are instances of it. 

“Whether it is sexually or physically being abused, it does exist in the system.

“Many housemen are too afraid to speak up as it might endanger their careers. For many of them, their future is in the hands of the abuser,” Tan said. 

Tan also said that on a daily basis, a houseman would work up to 16 hours and the exhaustion leads to inefficiency, which in turn leads to scolding and bullying.

“Housemen, especially fresh graduates, have the medical knowledge but not the inner workings of the hospital, which is where the majority of the bullying and abuse is based.

“When we bring up this matter to the senior doctors, they would say it is normal and tell us to just bear with it as everyone goes through it,” he said. 

On Tuesday, a houseman from Penang Hospital died after falling from an office building along Jalan Datuk Keramat in George Town.

The state department confirmed that the deceased was stationed at Penang Hospital on April 4, 2022, and was found dead on April 17.

Several lawmakers have urged the Health Ministry and its minister Khairy Jamaluddin to look seriously into the matter.

Penang health exco Norlela Ariffin urged the ministry to look into the work conditions of junior doctors at government hospitals, claiming many of them are subject to “inhumane” work conditions.

Meanwhile, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy said he believes the doctor who fell to his death was a victim of bullying and humiliation.

Another junior doctor from Penang corroborated that bullying during the horsemanship period is normal. 

“For me personally, I just wanted to survive so I just tried to cope with everything and ease my way out,” she said. 

“We do have a place where we can complain or bring up these issues and action will be taken against the respective party, but then we will be labelled and marked by the senior doctors.” 

She said bullying comes in many forms, such as gender, race, appearance and even performance. 

“Given the fact that we are under contract, we are mostly afraid of getting blacklisted for all these. So (most of the time) we will just let everyone step on us.” 

The perpetrators are usually the surgeons, specialists, attendants or even senior housemen, she said. 

“But, it could be anyone, if you are very junior.” 

Mental and emotional distress 

Another junior doctor also based in Penang said the bullying junior doctors are subjected to is often embarrassing as it is done publicly. 

At the hospital she is currently employed at, bullying is rampant, she said. 

“There are some doctors who like to pick on us always for tiny mistakes. 

“For instance, I’m a junior doctor, I’m trying my best to improve at work daily, but when I’m a little slow, I get scolded in front of nurses and patients that I’m slower than the medical officer (MO). 

“They would even say that the MO doesn’t see the initiative in me to learn and progress at work,” she said. 

She said the MOs like speaking negatively about housemen, which leads to embarrassment, not to mention affecting their mental state. 

“On top of that our shift is very long, which makes us lack sleep and sometimes we don’t eat the whole day, 

“To some, this may sound bearable and not that bad, but trust me, things like this accumulate over days and may lead to depression. 

“Getting verbally accosted can be pretty damaging,” she said. 

However, she said the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has really helped in various ways, such as coming up with a solution for the contract system. 

But she said she does not see any action taken against the bullying of junior doctors and she hopes MMA would do something about it soon. 

Meanwhile, another junior doctor based in Selangor said he has experienced verbal bullying multiple times. 

“One of the MO I worked with told me to ‘face it’ because if I can’t face the bullying, I am not qualified as a competent doctor.

“Dealing with a MO is way harder than dealing with a house officer,” he said. 

When asked about how he felt after reading about the suicide incident of the houseman in Penang, he said it is heartbreaking. 

“It’s tough to think how affected he would have been, until he had to take his own life and here we have MOs making comments about his death very inappropriately,” he said.

Another junior doctor based in Selangor agreed with the other junior doctors that verbal bullying is the most common. 

“The verbal abuse of belittling the juniors just because we haven’t learnt the (ins and outs of the) job yet is rampant.

“They even push all the workload to junior doctors because we are ‘not supposed’ to say no,” she said. 

According to her, MMA does give necessary advice when it saves lives but no action is taken when it comes to unnecessary commentary and bullying as that is a big concern for junior doctors. 

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the Health Ministry should set up a special committee to investigate the death of a houseman at the Penang Hospital. 

“It is crucial to identify the cause of the incident.

“This committee should be established to identify the cause of the incident and prevent similar cases in the future, especially involving trainee doctors,” he said in a brief statement on his Facebook page. – May 6, 2022.