PETALING JAYA: Medical groups have slammed the Health Ministry for its statement on On-Call Allowance for medical officers, saying that the ministry should retract it as the information is “factually incorrect”.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (Imam), Hartal Doktor Kontrak and the Malaysian Medics International (MMI) said in a joint statement on Tuesday (June 27) that the ministry’s explanation is irresponsible and contains “inaccurate” and “misleading facts.”
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The group said the on-call allowance, also known as ETAP or EKLWBB (allowance for work done outside normal working hours) was RM220 for weekends and not normal working days as claimed by the ministry.
The Health Ministry had said on Monday (June 26) that the on-call rate paid to civil servants including medical officers was not measured on an hourly basis.
The ministry said it is inaccurate to calculate the rate by dividing the RM220 active on-call rate for public holidays and weekends with 24 hours to derive the RM9.16 hourly rate.
It further explained that the on-call rate was paid on a 15 hours per-day basis sans the regular working hours.
The ministry also gave an example of one Dr Ali, a UD52 specialist, who makes RM17,299 a month as his allowance and basic pay which translates to RM576.63 per day.
Dr Ali is eligible for an allowance of RM250 for active on-call duty, for the additional hours he puts in after his regular working hours.
To illustrate its point further, the ministry said Dr Ali’s wage for the day he has on-call duty would be RM826.63 which is a total of the daily rate of RM576.63 and the on-call allowance of RM250.
The medical group said in their statement that the ministry’s explanation on the allowance being paid based on 15 hours a day is inaccurate as there are 24 hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays.
“For example, a medical officer will have on-call duty from 8am on a Saturday until 8am on Sunday,” they said.
The group added that the on-call issue is a current issue raised on behalf of medical officers and specialists
"The example of specialist Dr Ali used in the statement is close to impossible, unrealistic and far-fetched from the situation faced by the majority of officers and specialists,” the group said.
The group also said the example of the salary used in the statement is inaccurate.
“Besides that, it is illogical that a UD52 medical officer earns the said amount. The ministry should provide details of the RM17,299 along with his payslip.
According to the maximum payscale, a UD52 officer or specialist will only be able to make RM17,299 if they had remained on the same level for 22 years,” the group said while adding that it was an unrealistic example and furnishing a photo of a pay slip of a UD52 officer with a salary of RM11,821.
They said the example of the maximum salary used to justify the starting scale of a medical officer is wrong and will confuse the public.
“The ministry has given a wrong perception of medical officers,” it said.
It also reminded that the majority of medical officers belong to grades below UD52 and have less than 10 years of service, hence it was impossible for them to hit the maximum pay scale.
“As it said, the last time the on-call rate was increased was in 2012 (11 years ago). Is it right that 11 years have gone by without any increment as medical inflation has been rising at 9% per annum. Salary and allowance streamlining must be done in line with the rising cost of living or at least at an interval of every five years,” it said.
The group representing government doctors also demanded the ministry retracts the statement immediately and express regret over the misleading fact.
“The ministry must be more concerned over the welfare of doctors and take initiative to discuss issues with associations representing medical officers before making inaccurate statements,” it said.
It added that medical associations must be enlisted in reviews on allowances so that they receive an allowance which commiserates with their work.
It added that the ministry, Finance Ministry and Public Service Department must be more concerned over the welfare of healthcare workers and streamline their wages and allowance at least once every five years.
The Health Ministry had said on Monday (June 26) that the payment and other allowances to medical officers were based on the structure and principles of employment in the public service.
They are in accordance with the set rates for the job and parity, in keeping with present financial capacity, it added.
In a statement issued to clarify the granting of On-Call Allowance for medical officers, it said the ministry spent between 70% and 75% of the allocation in its management budget for emoluments, such as salaries and allowances for permanent and contract appointments.
