THE selection criteria for permanent posts must be made public by the Health Ministry, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said.

Association president Dr Koh Kar Chai said this after an outcry from contract doctors wanting to know the selection criteria being employed to filter out those who will be offered such positions.

“From the results of the selection process, we noted that among those rejected were those who had made the effort to go for parallel pathway programmes as well as excelled in their work,” he said.

“This resulted in dejection among these contract doctors. They have been informed that they will be offered a chance to reapply next year.

“Without knowing the selection criteria, many feel that they will be short-changed when they reapply for the permanent positions.”

On August 16, a total of 3,215 contract doctors were given permanent positions in the ministry.

More than 8,000 contract doctors applied for the posts.

Koh said while he understands that not all can be accepted, it would be good if the ministry can have a set of selection criteria made known to the contract doctors.

Recently, Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry has approved 4,053 out of 8,672 initial applications for permanent positions involving contract medical and dental officers and pharmacists this year.

He said it involved 3,215 medical officers, 438 dental officers and 400 pharmacists, while there were 225 candidates on the standby list. – August 20, 2022.