PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr. Muruga Raj Rajathurai said the on-call allowance for government hospital doctors was first implemented in 1994 and had remained at RM9 per hour since the last revision in 2011.

As such, he said MMA would continue to pressure the health ministry to adjust upward the on-call allowance.

“We will write to JPA and then follow up with the ministry of health.”

Muruga said MMA had proposed to increase the on-call allowance from RM9 to RM25 per hour during a meeting with health minister Dr. Zaliha Mustafa in a recent townhall meeting.

He told Sin Chew Daily the current allowance level was “embarrassingly low” and lacked competitiveness compared to the private sector.

“Considering the remarkable contribution by government hospital doctors to national health, this is not fair!”