PETALING JAYA: Doctors and medical groups say the Health Ministry's explainer for on-call allowances, are "out of touch with reality" say doctors.
The ministry's analogy, in a statement on Monday (June 26), of "Dr Ali", a UD52 grade specialist who earned RM17,299 a month inclusive of allowances, also did not go down well with doctors.
They said this means Dr Ali's pay is RM576.63 per day and is eligible for an allowance of RM250 for active on-call duty which translates to RM826.63.
The Health Ministry said on-call rate was paid on a 15-hour-per-day basis sans the regular working hours.
On-call allowances are paid based on the hours starting from a minimum of four hours.
Dr Timothy Cheng, an orthopaedic surgeon at a government hospital, said the on-call claim issue involved mostly medical officers and specialists who were at the early stages of their pay scale.
"The Dr Ali example is someone at the maximum level of the UD52 pay scale (22 years of service) nearing pension. This is a ludicrous comparison and shows that the statement was made by people who have no idea of the reality on the ground," he said.
It is irresponsible as a false perception is given to the public about the salary of doctors, causing doctors to look like they are greedy and unappreciative," he said.
He said the revision to the rate was last done 11 years ago in 2012 and is long overdue.
Another doctor who requested not to be named and has been championing the issues of junior doctors, concurred with Dr Cheng, saying there are over 20,000 junior doctors who are in the UD41 and UD43-44 grades.
"They do not receive Dr Ali's salary," he said.
"The Health Ministry is out of touch with the people working on the ground. Is this an attempt to paint the narrative that doctors are greedy? Instead of using a person whose grade and salary which is out of reach for most doctors, why won't they use the grade and salary of junior doctors?" he asked.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (Imam), Hartal Doktor Kontrak and the Malaysian Medics International (MMI) in a joint statement yesterday, urged the government to retract its statement, adding that the ministry's explanation is irresponsible and contains "inaccurate" and "misleading facts."
They added 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 and an officer may be on call from 8am on a Saturday until 8am on Sunday.
"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. "Besides that, it is illogical that a UD52 medical officer earns the said amount. The Health 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 groups said, 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.
They also reminded that the majority of medical officers belong to grades below UD52 and have served for less than 10 years, 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," they added.
The Health Ministry's statement said payment and other allowances to medical officers were based on the structure and principles of employment in the public service.
It added that 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.
