MORE and more junior doctors are choosing to emigrate overseas for better career prospects after failing to find permanent employment in Malaysia due to the government contract system.

The doctors, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Malaysian Insight they were also looking for better work-life balance. Many complained about working long shifts that lasted up to 36 hours with no time for breaks.

A doctor, who wished to be known as Dr Jay, is in Australia after leaving Malaysia in September when his contract expired.

He cited poor treatment of junior doctors, poor specialisation pathway, unrealistic work hours, and on-call payments being held back for minor mistakes as reasons for his leaving.

“To put it simply, the Malaysian government doesn’t see healthcare as a priority. Most leaders get admitted to private hospitals and I think that speaks for itself,” he said.

He said while doctors are needed, the government must be willing to spend on healthcare.

“The impact of lost doctors in government service will only be known in years to come and by then it will be too late,” he said.

Jay still works on contract in Australia but he said the salary is better, working hours shorter, and more focus is given to training and education.

He is one of many contract doctors who have left the country for greener pastures in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Another doctor who is attached to a government hospital in Selangor said she is looking to emigrate to the UK where she wants to specialise in obstetrics.

“I have got one more year (on contract),” she said.

“It was really a hard decision to make. Initially I wanted to stay as it meant the world to me but the opportunities here to specialise are limited for contract doctors.

“I have got no choice but to emigrate and do it overseas,” she said.

In July, Putrajaya said contract extensions of four years will be granted to healthcare workers pursuing specialisation.

The doctor said four years are insufficient as it takes about 10 years to progress from housemanship to specialisation.

“I don’t mind a contract but at least give us 10 years to complete the specialisation,” she said.

“There is no way we can complete our specialisation in four years.”

The doctor said many in her batch of medical graduates have emigrated overseas in search of better careers and treatment

“My friends (who have gone abroad) don’t work more than 42-45 hours a week but here if you are on call in some departments you can literally work for 36 hours straight and that is like a two-day shift,” she said.

On the prospects for contract doctors, she said there is the option of leaving the Health Ministry and joining the university hospitals, which fall under the purview of the Higher Education Ministry, or the private sector.

Another member of the medical profession said “brain drain” had been problem even before the contract system was introduced in 2016 but grew worse after the system was implemented.

Hartal Doktor Kontrak group spokesman Dr Mustapha Kamal A. Aziz said contract doctors had no future here.

“(They) have to emigrate. What else is there to do when the government does not appreciate doctors?” he said.

Mustapha warned that the next Hartal strike will come with “mass resignations.”

“We are expecting 5,000 to 7,000 junior doctors to join us but these will mostly be those who have already made plans to resign before Hartal,” he added.

Hartal 2.0 is expected to take place on December 8. The first one held in July saw hundreds of healthcare workers staging a walkout in hospitals nationwide as a sign of protest against the contract system.

The Hartal group had submitted a memorandum to the government demanding permanent positions for all contract medical officers.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on November 9 that the government will offers permanent positions to 4,186 contract medical officers.

Only 789 of the 23,077 contract medical officers in service since 2016 have been offered permanent employment. – November 25, 2021.