I would like to applaud Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai’s directive awarding trainee doctors a day off after carrying out their 24-hour on-call duty. The move, which he said will take effect immediately, is a bold one to protect the sanity of junior doctors from the stress of overworking.

This news will surely be welcomed by all current junior and future doctors-to-be. Those miserable hours of working non-stop are now in the past. I must say that I find it very amusing that it took a nutritionist like Liow to tell all the senior doctors in the country that humans are not robots!

I would, however, be utterly disappointed if this decision was a spontaneous one, made entirely as a ‘knee jerk’ response, which has become a trademark of politicians. Populist motives create more havoc and disarray in an organisation than make things better.

I believe this news is not entirely unexpected on the ground level of the Malaysian healthcare system. The Malaysian Medical Association and the Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists (Schomos) have for years been proposing methods and ways to protect trainee doctors.

However, their suggestions have never been taken seriously by the Health Ministry.

The whole structure of healthcare organisations in the public healthcare system are in a mess. There is no specific key performance indicator which doctors should adhere to or any regulations which are labour law compliant. We conduct our ward and clinic work how it was taught to us verbally by our predecessors.

It should be taken into consideration that doctors working in rural areas are also overworked, with high clinical and administrative responsibilities.

The plight of these doctors, who have gone through the "old" system, should not be overlooked when planning a revamp of the current healthcare system in the country.

Therefore, I would suggest that all doctors post-call should have a formal off day, just like trainee doctors. Even better, I would like to urge the Health Ministry to thoroughly revamp the working strata of all public medical personnel.

The current system is ancient and we should evolve with the rest of the world.