If the woes of contract doctors are not addressed, these talented people may eventually be forced to quit the profession they were once so proud of.

Mogok Doctor Malaysia started a three-day strike on Monday. The strike involves doctors taking sick leave or wearing black in support  of the strike.

The organization said all doctors taking part in the strike would inform hospital management to apply for sick leave, and if any doctor is intimidated because of the strike, the organization would assist in reporting the case to the police.

The strike by almost 10,000 contract doctors is not expected to take to the streets but to go on a more moderate strike by taking sick leave for three days.

However, thousands of doctors taking sick leave concurrently is enough to paralyze hospitals, including emergency rooms, outpatient clinics and specialist services.

A nationwide strike by contract doctors took place in July 2021, and most of the strikers returned to their work soon afterward.

In December the same year, contract doctors were once again considering striking, but then health minister Khairy Jamaluddin assured them that he would raise their woes at the cabinet meeting. The strike was subsequently called off.

On Monday afternoon, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said there had been no strikes at public hospitals nationwide. However, public concerns about doctors striking still needs to be addressed.

MMA said it had received numerous calls from the public enquiring whether government hospitals are operating normally. The answer was yes.

MMA also hoped the ministry would issue a statement and convey the information through social media regularly in a bid to minimize public concerns and assure them that government hospitals are operating normally.

Despite the noise made, the strike has had very little impact on the public.

There were almost 30,000 contract doctors in the country as of 2022. After the contract doctor system was implemented, as many as 3,386 contract doctors resigned between 2017 and 2022. Many have since changed careers or sought more lucrative employment opportunities overseas.

In the past, any medical school graduate would have to first complete a two-year housemanship at a government hospital and later serve as a resident doctor for two years before he or she would be offered permanent government employment.

Nevertheless, the problem arise when local government and private universities started to aggressively recruit medical students numbering 5,000 to 6,000 each year.

We have seen a glut of medical graduates since 2016, forcing the government to hire them on a contract basis, renewable after two years.

As a result, contract doctors lose a sense of job security, making it harder for them to plan their future careers, such as taking specialty exams.

Such a dilemma has remained unresolved for the past seven years, and is indeed worsening.

Compared to other disciplines, it takes a student longer time to complete medical school, not to mention the stiff tuition fees incurred.

Although contract doctors have the same responsibilities and workload as resident doctors at a hospital, their salaries are significantly lower and they are not entitled to any bonuses, study leave, government loan schemes or other perks.

Contract doctors have to face extremely unfair treatment, and are now pressured to be “on call” up to 12 times a month, each lasting up to 32 hours with a meager allowance of only RM9 an hour.

In worst case scenario, they could be put “on call” for 384 hours a month, earning RM3,456, just a fraction of what a resident doctor makes.

As for the basic pay, a UD43 grade contract doctor only gets RM3,611 a month, with a fixed annual increment of RM250. Such a pay scale is not even as good as that of a mid-level executive in a small or medium-sized business. In addition, they have to face life and death situations with pathetic pay, long working hours, and tremendous work pressure.

As such, the reactions of contract doctors are easily understandable.

In a statement on the strike, health minister Zaliha Mustafa said her ministry would set up a high-level committee to address the issue of contract doctors, stressing that the strike would not solve their problem.

It has been 21 months since the last strike, and the government will need to show some sincerity in tackling this problem.

Meanwhile, Hartal Doktor Kontrak announced on Monday that they had agreed with the minister’s plan to set up a new committee to solve the problems faced by contract doctors.

They also urged the minister to include MMA in the committee to make sure the voices of contract doctors are heard, saying it would submit a memorandum to the minister on this matter later.

Indeed, we have had so many committees but the problems are yet to be resolved.

This issue has been around for some seven years, and the contract doctors’ predicament has remained largely unresolved despite promises from three different administrations.

It is real tough for these contract doctors — who had to study very hard and borrow to complete their studies — to face the sad reality that their jobs now are subjected to renewal every two years.

These talented people may eventually be forced to quit the profession they were once so proud of.