LETTER | While I welcome the six-month contract extension for 2,070 medical, dental, and pharmacy officers, but again, this is just another stop-gap measure to try to “patch” up this issue, without coming up with a long-term solution, and giving proper assurance and security to our healthcare workers.

This contract extension also involves many Sarawakian healthcare workers who are working in Kuching.

This move has raised a few pertinent questions that need further clarification and I do hope the Health Ministry can provide more clarity.

(1) These temporary stop-gap measures were said to cost RM81 million and will be taken from Tabung Covid-19.

While this is good, what happens when the money in the Tabung runs out? So are we setting a precedent that the contracts or salary of our healthcare workers are dependent on public/private donations?

(2) What happens to these people in six months' time?

Leaving them in limbo sometimes is worse and due to this uncertainty, many of them cannot make long-term commitments, including important financial commitments.

This limits our healthcare workers from getting financing for basic needs such as a car or even a house.

Clarity is important so that they can plan. Leaving them in limbo is actually being cruel to them.

(3) This also limits these contract workers from getting enough time and training for their specialist programmes.

The additional six months is insufficient for the needed training and guidance from experienced medical specialists.

This is, of course, not in line with the efforts by the government and hospitals to produce more specialists to address the nationwide lack and also to improve the quality of healthcare for our patients.

One of the ways to offer a long-term solution to this problem is for the upcoming Budget 2021 to include a significant investment in health care, especially into its human resources.

This includes taking into account other contract issues faced by healthcare workers, and to look into increasing allocations to at least lengthen their contracts up to at least 10 years.

This is so that they have sufficient time to complete the necessary training and gazettement for those planning to specialise.

One of the things this pandemic has revealed is the importance of reforms in healthcare priorities, especially systemic financing. More investment in healthcare is really needed, not just to deal with the current pandemic, but also for issues that are yet to come.

This involves investment in human resources, the core of the healthcare system. It is healthcare workers that save patients, and it is into them we must prioritise our investment. Investment in the health of our nation will also translate into the wealth of our nation.

Many among these are budding doctors, dentists, and pharmacists at the beginning of their careers. We do not want to lose them and suffer brain drain from an industry that is so important in our country.

Health is wealth.

KELVIN YII is MP for Bandar Kuching.

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