YOURSAY | 'The critical situation of our healthcare system shows how badly we need them…'

Docs on strike: Hundreds walk out of govt hospitals nationwide

Doc: The government contract doctors who staged a walkout should be commended as they were highlighting to Malaysians of their plight.

They are working in life-threatening conditions with no future job security and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s brainless and whitewashing solutions are not going to be tolerated by these doctors.

Similarly, I think it may be time for us Malaysians to take to the streets again, just like these doctors, in an orderly, SOP-compliant, fully vaccinated manner to protest against this tyrannical government that is causing mental, physical, economic and social anguish to the rakyat, apart from directly causing the Covid-19 pandemic here in Malaysia to go out of control.

I think it is about time Malaysians work together to take back control of this country. Now that the PN government has cancelled the emergency ordinances, the time is right to take to the streets.

Duh?!!: The root of the problem is the government, for some strange reason, does not want to add the cost of these medical doctors permanently to its budget. The critical situation of our public healthcare system shows how badly we need this additional budget and manpower resource.

If the issue is budget, then let's trim the civil service. While these doctors are risking their lives on the frontlines, trim those deadwood civil servants who are at home doing nothing.

They are contributing nothing to the country and the government can actually operate with less staff as this pandemic has shown.

Don’t let the budget be wasted on civil servants who show no propensity for critical thinking or problem-solving while these medical graduates cannot even get a permanent job even as we badly need them now.

Justice: Doctors provide essential health services. Therefore, they should be accorded fair treatment by the government.

The PN government appointed the largest cabinet in history, which is unnecessarily bloated, comprising ministers and deputy ministers with huge salaries, allowances, perks, drivers and when they retire, they will also be paid a lifelong pension.

Many of these cabinet members can hardly perform because of their incompetency. So the PN government has been wasting our tax money for non-essentials, instead of paying, rewarding and investing in our doctors who provide us essential services.

I fully support the cause of our doctors, not our useless politicians.

TheLastSamurai: We demand the resignation of Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and two of his deputies with immediate effect.

Giving a contract extension of two years to these doctors is really nothing. That just means you need them during the pandemic and after two years… semua boleh blah kan? (they can get lost?)

You are getting your hospital director to threaten them; this is not acceptable. Instead of providing support, they are being threatened. No wonder real talents don't stay in this country. You don’t appreciate them. You only want to make use of them.

By the way, if anyone has been sacked for participating in the walkout, I will be the first to support a donation drive to assist these frontliners. We fight together with you.

Cogito Ergo Sum: It is a terrible time to go on strike but it had to be done. If anyone is sacked, go to the Labour Department. It may not be much as contract employees do not have many rights, beyond what’s in the contract.

This administration is only used to using strongarm tactics and getting away with it. Unfortunately, they do not know any other way of getting what they want.

The rakyat are already hard-pressed with the government’s total lack of compassion. The doctors are holding things together yet their pleas are falling on deaf ears.

GrayGoose8208: The medical fraternity must support these junior doctors who have been exploited for such a long time. Don’t threaten them with punishment or penalties.

They are not asking Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign after all, but to have a future in doing what they were trained to do. The hierarchy within the Health Ministry should and must support them.

YellowGecko9040: @GrayGoose8208, it is interesting as I sit among my senior medical colleagues and many of these ‘old school’ professionals say the strike is wrong.

But these are people who have their Jawatan Utama Sektor Awam (Jusa) posts confirmed and will retire with all the benefits, bells and whistles included.

So, even among the senior clinicians, there is a dichotomy. I pointed out that they have job security and that is why they (senior clinicians) condemn the strike.

Of course, when put straight in their face like that, they become defensive and the usual story of “in the old days” come out.

Many of us support this move but don’t be surprised the senior heads of departments and those with confirmed posts are comfortable enough to wash their hands off this move by their junior doctors.

Plecolitic: If the contractual agreement signed between the doctors and the government is so unfair, these senior contract doctors should also advise their junior contract doctors not to join the government in order to make this protest meaningful.

But these junior contract doctors signed the contract nevertheless. So when you agree with the contract at the beginning of employment, why are you protesting now? You agreed with the temporal nature of employment in the contract.

When these protesting doctors quit, new junior contract doctors will take their place. If these senior contract doctors don’t go, it will be impossible for the fresh medical graduates to even get housemanship training.

So, the root of the problem actually lies in the oversupply of medical graduates. Now, who is the real culprit? Those in power who gave out licences to medical schools. The problem can be traced back to corruption and the love for money.

Hmmmmmmmm: While the issue may be a bit cloudy, one thing is crystal clear. The last thing this issue needs is threats by senior hospital officials or the police against the contract doctors.

I don't know what they hope to achieve by threatening the doctors who go on strike. It's like threatening suicidal people with the death penalty.

You have to agree that the doctors have chosen the best time for a strike (for its effectiveness) – in the midst of the pandemic. The government must listen to them. If you push them to resign or fire them, our whole Covid battle will end up in the dumps.

Take a look at our civil service and cut all the unnecessary departments and divert the budget to these critical services.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.