PETALING JAYA: Specialists, especially senior paediatricians, need better career prospects and conditions if they are to continue in government service, say health professionals.
Many senior paediatricians have stagnated for years without promotion, with 35 in UD56 for seven years and around 90 in the same rank for three years, said Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail, a committee member of the Malaysian Paediatric Association.
“Promote the senior specialists to Jusa C and don’t let them hover in UD56,” he said, adding that it was a doable move and would not bring many financial implications for the government.
It has been reported that 359 specialist doctors resigned from public service in 2023, which was more than double the 168 in 2022 and the highest since 2019 when 229 quit.
Between 2022 and 2023, the highest number of resignations involved paediatricians, with 78 of them leaving.
Dr Zulkifli said promoting the specialists will allow junior paediatricians to see a future in public service and also prevent specialists from moving out.
He also urged the government not to forget paediatricians sent to rural areas.
Consultant paediatrician Datuk Dr Amar Singh HSS said paediatricians were not the only specialists leaving public service. Other disciplines, like adult medicine (physicians), have seen a higher number leaving.
He also agreed that a critical factor was the lack of career advancement opportunities, adding that while some moved to private practice for more attractive pay, others moved due to frustration with the public healthcare system.
Former hospital director Dr A. Lingeswaran, who is now a senator, expressed concern about the falling number of specialists in government hospitals.
He said that more than half of the 18,238 registered specialists on the National Specialist Register (as of Jan 1), are in the private sector.
In a parliamentary reply by the Health Ministry in June, he said 8,397 specialists were in the public sector, which is only 46% of registered specialists.
However, Dr Lingeswaran said the workload for those in the public sector was higher, as public hospitals saw around 2.9 million admissions compared to the 1.3 million in private hospitals.
“For outpatients, public hospitals registered around 22 million patients while it is only four million in the private facilities.
“Clearly, there is a huge discrepancy of workload compared to their private sector colleagues,” he said.
He said public sector specialists also taught and trained the next generation of medical officers and specialists, so their numbers needed to be higher.
Consultant paediatrician and neonatologist Dr Masri Muhamed said job satisfaction was a strong factor for specialists to move to private practice.
“Private hospitals are more well-equipped, allowing specialists to practise up-to-date medicine,” he said.
To encourage specialists to stay, he said the government could offer them the option to choose their workplaces and flexible working hours, alongside a clearer career pathway.
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