KUALA LUMPUR: The deferment of placement selection for permanent medical officer (MO) candidates is a “betrayal” of doctors, says Datuk Lawrence Low.
The MCA vice-president said the sudden decision to postpone the placement selection for the 2,245 MO candidates scheduled for Monday (March 17) on the day itself, would leave many with emotional distress from the sudden uncertainty of their position.
“These young medical professionals have sacrificed years of their lives studying and training with many having already made plans based on their assigned locations, some even relocating their families.
“How does the Health Ministry expect them to serve their patients with full dedication now when their own futures remain uncertain?
"This isn’t just a bureaucratic mistake; it’s a betrayal of the very people who sustain our healthcare system,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday (Mar 17).
Low also slammed the ministry for its seemingly uncoordinated approach to policy making, noting that it could exacerbate the shortage of doctors in Malaysia's already overburdened public healthcare system.
“With such unstable career prospects and lack of respect, more doctors will resign and seek better opportunities overseas which will further strain an already overburdened system.
“This crisis exposes a healthcare system paralysed by mismanagement, lack of transparency, and a blatant disregard for the well-being of its frontline workers.
“If the ministry continues this pattern of last-minute decisions and systemic failures, Malaysians will be the ones to suffer long-term consequences,” he said.
To this, Low called on the ministry to provide a clear and final placement timeline; provide a public explanation of why the placements were cancelled; and to ensure any reforms to the placement system must be structured, fair, and reliable.
This comes after the previous placement selection for 2,245 Grade UD10 medical officers, that was conducted on Feb 27, were revealed to have been cancelled due to technical disruptions on March 7.
The placements were then rescheduled to Monday (March 17), before it was revealed to have been deferred again on the same day.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan then announced that the existing ePlacement selection system, which uses the first-come, first-served approach, would be replaced with a more transparent, fairer and merit-based system on Monday.
