THE contract doctors staged their nationwide “Hartal Doktor Kontrak” protest today to express their collective dissatisfaction over the present terms of their temporary employment.
Very much at the end of their tether, these exhausted doctors took the last resort to mount the hartal to tell the government in no uncertain terms that their plight as contract workers must be addressed urgently and that a comprehensive long-term solution must be sought.
No half-baked solution, as they rightly put it.
Which explains why many of them soldiered on to strike in defiance of the authorities’ warning and immense intimidation – and even at the expense of goodwill of certain quarters of the population.
The cautionary advice by director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah that these doctors should heed the dictum, primum non nocere (first do no harm) to patients, seems to be way over the top, especially when the doctors had promised to take due precautions so that their patients are not left in the lurch during the protest.
In particular, the arrangement during the protest was that permanent doctors would attend to patients under the care of the striking doctors, and the contract doctors would hurry back to the wards if their assistance is urgently needed.
So, this does not appear to be an irresponsible act of these doctors. In fact, this is not really a strike in the true sense of the word, because a strike is meant to disrupt what is considered normal.
In other words, the hartal reportedly was not planned in a way that would throw the entire public healthcare system into chaos, as some would want us to believe.
This hartal should be seen as a means to alert the government and the public that the contract doctors have been treated unfairly over the years, and yet are expected to work as hard as, if not more than, the permanent doctors.
Besides, shouldn’t the contract doctors, like any other citizens of this country, have the right to express publicly as enshrined in the federal constitution?
We should be mindful that in many cases, these doctors work under unsatisfactory or deplorable conditions and at the same time, have to attend to a surge of patients with limited healthcare facilities.
In many ways, this hartal is also to raise a red flag about shortage of beds, oxygen supplies and other vital healthcare equipment. The protest is to see to it that our healthcare system is well equipped and run in the long term.
As intimated above, the pandemic has clearly shown that the contract doctors have worked tirelessly to save lives of fellow Malaysians – and at times put their equally precious lives on the line. Surely, this is a Hippocratic Oath well kept.
Issuing stern warnings and exercising various forms of intimidation to these contract doctors are not exactly a nice way for the authorities to show appreciation of their sterling work, especially during the pandemic.
These doctors are generally not self-serving professionals who seek grossly fat pay cheques and other perks, unlike some politicians in our midst. They want certainty in their career path and justice. Is that too much to ask?
Like any other professional and worker, job security and fair terms of employment are vital not only for the doctors but also their families and loved ones.
The government should invest more money in our healthcare system to ensure its sustainability in the long run, especially in terms of adequate supply of medical officers. This should be one of its priorities.
A band-aid in the form of extended contracts for these doctors is not what is needed as a remedy to what ails our public healthcare system.
Whether it is through hartal or other forms of public expression, injustice must be called out. – July 26, 2021.
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Comments
Posted 2 years ago by Jason Varughese · Reply
Posted 2 years ago by DENGKI KE? · Reply
Is there a need for them? if there is no need then just sack the whole lot of them. Simple. But it seems they are sorely needed for this Pandemic which has reached horrific levels. Previously, maybe they were an "excess" but today they have become a neccessity. So it makes the mistake a good mistake by the previous government. God has made good use of your mistake. Don't make another mistake by neglecting these heroic doctors who have toiled day and night, exposing themselves daily to mortal danger until some are on the brink of total exhaustion.
So will there be an excess after this pandemic is over? The question to ask is actually "will this be the last pandemic or will there be a series of pandemic after this?" Many people are inclined to believe that for whatever reasons, there will be other pandemics after this. The government of the day will then have to plan ahead, learning from the inadequacy of our medical setup during a pandemic, and prepare for the next pandemics in the future. This will require more hospitals, better equipped and more doctors, nurses and specialists.
Meanwhile, the government should also start regulating the number of students each college can produce and to close some of the substandard medical colleges. Meanwhile, lets take care of these bunch of heroes and heroines and do the right thing, not just for them, but for the nation too.
Posted 2 years ago by Mike Mok · Reply
Is there a need for them? if there is no need then just sack the whole lot of them. Simple. But it seems they are sorely needed for this Pandemic which has reached horrific levels. Previously, maybe they were an excess (not sure about this) but today they have become a neccessity. So Covid has made good the mistake by the previous government. The government should not now make another mistake by neglecting these heroic doctors who have toiled day and night, exposing themselves daily to mortal danger until some are on the brink of total exhaustion. Many have probably been infected.
So will there be an excess after this pandemic is over? The question to ask is actually "Will this be the last pandemic or will there be a series of pandemic after this?" Many people are inclined to believe that for whatever reasons, there will be other pandemics after this. The government of the day will then have to plan ahead, learning from the inadequacy of our medical setup during a pandemic, and prepare for the subsequent pandemics in the future. This will require more and better equiped hospitals, more doctors, nurses and specialists. Where will we get specialists if we don't give these young doctors a chance?
Meanwhile, the government should also start regulating the number of students each college can produces and to close some of the substandard medical colleges. Meanwhile, lets take care of these bunch of heroes and heroines and do the right thing, not just for them, but for the nation too.
Posted 2 years ago by Mike Mok · Reply