Contract Doctors Earn Only RM9/Hour and Allegedly 8,000 of Them Are Protesting

An Instagram page ‘Mogok Doktor Malaysia’ claimed that 8,000 contract doctors are going on strike from 3 to 5 April to protest low wages and the unfair system.

Contract doctors were urged to participate by applying for Medical or Emergency leave or by participating in a mass resigning event on 1 April 2023. They also asked non-contract doctors to join in by showing up to work wearing the colour black. The page shared numerous posts asking contract doctors to protest with the hashtag #DoktorBukanKuli which means #DoctorsNotSlaves.

They also warned the Malaysian public to visit private clinics and hospitals instead during the three days as long waits were expected at the public hospitals.

Demanding Better Employment Terms

The contract system for doctors was first introduced in December 2016 to address the surplus of medical graduates in the country. While the public may have preconceived notions that Malaysian contract doctors enjoy a lucrative salary, the page highlighted that this was not the case. Among the issues they raised were:

1. That on-call wages were only RM9 per hour

2. There was an RM1-2k pay gap per month compared to those with permanent posts

3. It was difficult or almost impossible to get into a Master’s programme

4. Contract doctors had to work overtime with no pay

5. The pension for contract doctors had been removed and now their critical allowance (RM750 per month) was being reviewed.

This was the memorandum written by the group that was targeted at the Malaysian Government, Ministry of Health, and the Minister of Health:

1. Absorb all contract medical officers into permanent positions without any conditions or interviews.

2. Increase the basic salary and on-call rates for medical specialists with medical officers. Medical officers: RM40 per hour, medical specialists: RM100 per hour.

3. Address the problem of shortages of medical specialists, medical officers, and medical officer graduates immediately.

4. Reduce the mandatory service of a medical officer to 3 years automatically without any application.

5. Reduce working and on-call hours for medical officers and medical officer graduates. On-call hours cannot exceed 6 times per month while working hours cannot exceed 60 hours per week.

6. Approve relocation to the region of origin after two years of service in Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan without any conditions.

The group threatened that the strike would be held throughout Malaysia if all the conditions were not fulfilled before 1 April.

Without alluding directly to the strike, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia uploaded a Facebook post on 1 April stating that civil servants were prohibited from participating in illegal strikes.

However, as of today (3 April), multiple publications such as The Star and the New Straits Times have reported that operations at hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, and Penang have not been hindered.

Another group named Hartal Doktok Kontrak previously organised a strike in July 2021 and have stated unequivocally that the two groups are not related.

You can check out Mogok Doktor Malaysia’s Instagram page here.

Image credit: @mogokdoktormalaysia, Azim Rahman @ The Vibes