Emergency help needed for medical staff: Healthcare workers are seriously stretched and something needs to be done about it. — Filepic
PETALING JAYA: Severely overworked, bullied and burnt out, more Malaysian doctors could be leaving the industry unless the Health Ministry intervenes and addresses perennial issues in the healthcare sector, according to findings of a survey.
Conducted by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the survey showed about 30% to 40% of doctors in the country experienced some form of bullying in their career.
Even more distressing, in conjunction with National Doctors Day, government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said Putrajaya took note yesterday that there had been a 1,131% increase in resignation involving Malaysian contract doctors in 2022 with 1,354 resignations compared to 110 cases in 2017.
Health Ministry data showed that the trend was rising consistently every year with 168 contract doctors leaving the service in 2018, 475 in 2019, 511 in 2020, 768 in 2021 and 1,354 in 2022.
A total of 253 bullying cases were reported in the MMA survey, with almost 200 of them not revealing which states they were from, said MMA president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz.
The survey was conducted by the MMA’s section concerning house officers, medical officers and specialists (Schomos) and its Junior Doctor Network (JDN) from Sept 15 to Oct 1 this year.
It showed that Sabah and Melaka had no confirmed cases of bullying, with only 15 respondents identifying that they were from Sarawak, nine from Selangor and eight from Perak.
A total of 728 Malaysian doctors from the public and private healthcare sector participated in the survey, of which 476 were medical officers, 207 specialists/consultants and 46 were house officers.
According to the survey, 50% of specialists/consultants and house officers as well as 168 medical officers said they experienced bullying on the job.
“The survey also found that victims are unlikely to file a complaint out of fear or are unsure of how to go about it. Even so, no action was taken when they did,” said Dr Azizan.
The survey also found that most Malaysian doctors were overworked, with junior doctors the most affected.
According to the survey, about 60% of junior doctors with less than two years’ experience worked overtime daily and 20% of those with over two years’ experience worked overtime every day.“Another 30% to 40% still work overtime at least three times a week. As for the frequency of Malaysian doctors working overtime, 35% of doctors work overtime once to twice a week, 32% work overtime three to four times per week, 24% every day and 9% never do,” said the survey.
Dr Azizan said the findings of the survey, regardless of the number of respondents participating, were significant.
“On bullying, these findings may be just the tip of the iceberg as many others might be suffering in silence. States with no reports of bullying do not mean that there aren’t any,” she said.
In February, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa told Parliament that 3,386 contract medical officers resigned between 2017 and 2022.
The bulk of resignations, she said, took place last year, where 1,354 out of 29,548 medical officers left their respective jobs.
Fahmi, in his speech in conjunction with National Doctors Day, said Putrajaya had taken note of the 1,131% increase in resignation involving Malaysian contract doctors. He said Malaysia had a brain drain rate of 5.5%, which is significantly higher than the global average of 3.3% as reported by the World Bank Monitor report.
“Stemming brain drain requires political will and the unity government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is committed to ensuring that no Malaysian is left behind.
“There will be a shift in all policy matters from race-based governance to one that is needs-based, where every Malaysian has the opportunity to realise their fullest potential,” said Fahmi.
