THE authorities should not be investigating junior doctors who participated in yesterday’s Hartal Doktor Kontrak strike, former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said. 

The Kuala Selangor MP said Putrajaya should instead address the grouses of the contract doctors. 

“The government, especially the Health Ministry, should not punish the doctors who took part in the protest yesterday, rather they must look at the contract doctors’ welfare,” said Dzulkefly, after Health Minister Dr Adham Baha briefed lawmakers on its efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“The police, too, must stop probing the doctors. I hope the minister can look at this issue and pay heed to their complaints.”

The Amanah lawmaker told Parliament that during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) administration, there was a proposal to form a health services commission.

However, it did not materialise as PH was brought down due to internal conflict among the leaders in the coalition. 

“Do not blame PH for this problem as we, during our time in the government, had proposed a plan to form a health services commission to look at various issues faced by our healthcare practitioners,” he said. 

“One of things we managed to do was to upgrade the contract doctors from UD41 to UD43. 

“More could be done if only there was no betrayal.”

Yesterday morning, hundreds of contract doctors from various hospitals in the country staged a walkout in rejecting Putrajaya’s offer for another two-year extension of contract. 

They were demanding permanent posts and equal treatment as senior medical practitioners. 

The strike started at 11am despite police presence at various hospitals. 

Clad mostly in black, the doctors held placards that read “We are future specialists” and “Specialists in the making, yet our future is aching”. 

The walkout went ahead despite Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement that the government would extend their contract before a permanent solution could be put in place.

The Hartal Doktor Kontrak group behind the protest rejected the offer as “half-baked” and said it was not the solution they were looking for. – July 27, 2021.