PETALING JAYA – Just a few years ago, there was a glut in the number of medical graduates in Malaysia. But today, the public healthcare system is grappling with a shortage of doctors, especially housemen.
Since 2019, the number of housemen at the Ministry of Health (MOH) has plunged by 50 per cent. According to data from the ministry’s human resources division, seen by The Star, there were 6,134 housemen in 2019, and 3,271 in 2023.
Healthcare stakeholders have warned that if the manpower problem is not resolved, the public healthcare system will suffer and Malaysian citizens will bear the brunt.
Rights group Hartal Doktor Kontrak spokesman Muhammad Yassin said the organisation had predicted the shortage in 2021. “Actually, this is a global trend where the newer generations are more inclined towards non-science streams... Hence, we have fewer undergraduates at medical school and fewer new medical graduates.
“In Malaysia, this is further exacerbated by the contract system issues which have been plaguing the country since 2016,” he said.
Under the contract system, thousands of Malaysian doctors have been offered only contractual positions by the government. As a result, these doctors take home significantly lower pay than their predecessors, and do not enjoy most of the benefits that come with working in the civil service.
Dr Muhammad Yassin said the manpower shortage has led to mental stress and an increased burden on healthcare workers, and would also lead to a drop in the quality of healthcare services and a higher risk of medical errors.
He added that there have been several reports about longer waiting times at medical facilities and that the matter would only worsen if it was not addressed.
However, the issue could be resolved, he said, with better pay, allowances and benefits, especially for professional development.
Malaysian Medical Association president Azizan Abdul Aziz noted that enrolment in medical schools mushroomed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to more medical graduates then.
However, the rising numbers of graduates led to a moratorium in 2011 on the number of students in medical schools. This decline in medical students corresponded with the introduction of the contract system in 2016, which prompted overseas graduates to remain overseas, said Dr Azizan.
“So, the situation now is a combination of fewer people studying medicine from 2018 to 2019, plus people not returning to Malaysia,” she added.
She called on MOH to be transparent and share its data on the numbers of healthcare workers by category, in order to produce more effective healthcare human resource planning.
“This information should be shared with the public on a dashboard. Currently no one, except the government, knows what the numbers are,” she said.
Public health expert and retired MOH official Zainal Ariffin Omar said there has yet to be any definitive solutions.
“Unless the government implements the right strategy, our health system and citizens will suffer. The government should be more serious, fast and firm (in finding solutions).
“A Health Service Commission should be established as soon as possible. No more talk or studies,” Dr Zainal said.
According to Free Malaysia Today, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said on April 22 that the government was in the final stages of examining a proposal to form a Health Service Commission.
In 2023, then Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa reportedly said details on the setting up of the commission were being finalised, with the goal of addressing problems related to healthcare service schemes, especially for healthcare professionals. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
