KUALA LUMPUR: The 33-hour on-call shifts for government doctors are unreasonable and unfair, says a government backbencher.
Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) said such hours are also unfair to patients, as the services they receive could be affected by the doctors' fatigue.
Citing The Star’s front page report on Oct 16, Khoo also asked how such shifts could still be the norm for government doctors.
“A doctor may start his shift at 8am to 5pm the same day, marking nine working hours.
“After this, they have to stand by until 8am the following day when they go straight into their daily routine until 5pm, (for) a total of 33 hours at least.
“This extremely long period will surely affect the welfare of doctors, with some losing their lives due to work fatigue,” he told a press conference at the Parliament media centre on Tuesday (Oct 22).
On Oct 16, The Star highlighted calls by the medical fraternity to do away with long on-call periods after a doctor at a government hospital in Penang was found dead in her car in the parking lot of the hospital where she served.
This resulted in the doctor’s sister, a medical officer in another government hospital in Penang, resigning immediately.
She believed that her sister's death was caused by overwork and exhaustion due to inadequate rest.
On a related matter, Khoo asked how many of the vacancies listed by the Health Ministry had been filled.
Citing a ministry parliamentary written reply, he said there are 8,470 specialist positions and 34,922 medical officer positions.
“However, the pertinent question remains: how many of these positions have been filled?” he said.
He also cited a ministry written reply in the Dewan Negara earlier this year which said an average of 199 specialists had resigned annually over the past 10 years.
“This means close to 2,000 specialists have resigned over this period,” he said.
Khoo also called on Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad to find a swift resolution to both matters.
“Dzulkefly previously said he had unfinished business after taking up the post of Health Minister last year.
“I hope this unfinished business includes overcoming the lack of specialists and improving doctors' welfare,” he said.
