THE Labour Law Reform Coalition is appalled to learn that many healthcare workers are suffering from exhaustion and are struggling with issues posed by understaffing and insufficient equipment. Some doctors have even resigned during this health crisis.

While civil society initiatives to donate funds and equipment to Covid-19 hospitals are praiseworthy, it must not be forgotten that the government has yet to mobilise necessary resources to back-up the healthcare workers to alleviate enormous pressures on their shoulders.

Article 4 of the Emergency Ordinance gazetted on 14 January 2021 provides that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may demand any resources to be utilised for any purpose deemed necessary, which may include human resources, utilities and assets, as well as facilities. The government should fully utilise this provision to mobilise more resources to fight this battle, which had already taken the lives of 7,902 Malaysians. 

Healthcare workers from private hospitals and general panels, retired doctors and nurses, medical and nursing students at universities and colleges, should be enlisted to support the fight against Covid-19. 

Manufacturing facilities that produce oxygen tanks, ventilators, personal protective equipment, and patient beds should be temporarily acquired for the production of necessary equipment. 

The government can also tap into unemployed people by hiring them to provide administrative support for vaccination drives, and ensure that they are compensated accordingly. 

The government should also not hesitate to contact the international community including World Health Organisation (WHO) for the necessary support. 

In addition, healthcare workers deserve an avenue and platform to discuss their rights, benefits, safety and health. The government has been denying all civil servants, including healthcare workers, the right to collective bargaining. This is why many healthcare workers have resorted to voicing out their concerns anonymously for fear of reprisal.

The government must provide proper channels for front-liners to air out their grievances. The struggles and despair experienced by healthcare workers cannot be addressed by gag orders and strict disciplinary action. 

As the employer of numerous healthcare workers, the government must appreciate trade unions’ role as social partners in promoting the protection of workers’ rights through an open negotiation process, especially in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Given that the Malaysian government has ratified the International Labour Organisation’s 1998 convention on collective bargaining, it should reform labour laws and protect civil servants’ right to collective bargaining, so that unions in the healthcare sector can hold social dialogues with the Minister of Health from time to time to address their concerns. – July 25, 2021.

* N. Gopal Kishnam & Irene Xavier are the Co-Chairpersons of the Labour Law Reform Coalition.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.