proposal by the former minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Department <\/a>missed the root issue of medical brain drain, citing stalled careers, inadequate on-call allowances, toxic workplaces, and unclear career pathways.<\/p>\n\u201cThe push factors at home are far stronger than the pull abroad. While we cannot stop brain drain completely, we can minimise it by ensuring these push factors are decisively addressed,\u201d said Dr Arasu in a statement today.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the absorption of contract doctors and Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad\u2019s announcement about abolishing the contract system, but called for talk to turn into action.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s largest doctors\u2019 group pointed out that the on-call allowance increase for medical officers has yet to be implemented, despite an announcement in Budget 2026 last October.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should not be deferred to 2026. Implementation must take place immediately to restore morale and trust in the government among the doctors who are holding the system together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdul Rahman recently proposed that the Singaporean government pay compensation to the Malaysian government for recruiting Malaysian doctors and nurses, accusing Singapore of undermining Malaysia\u2019s health care system.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the proposal of compensation, if this is to be considered, it should only apply to those under government scholarships or bonded trainees who have a clear service obligation,\u201d said Dr Arasu.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrivately funded graduates should not be penalised, as they have borne their own costs. Any framework must be fair, transparent, and consistent with international norms on labour mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Public Service Department (JPA) to work together on raising doctors\u2019 on-call allowance, together with periodic reviews; clear and time-bound career pathways for permanent posts and specialist training; safe workloads; and modern facilities with a supportive workplace culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral enabling initiatives are already on the table, such as manpower norms for all health care categories, a national manpower dashboard, and the \u2018Suka Sama Suka\u2019 platform for postings. These are important building blocks, and they should be executed without delay,\u201d said Dr Arasu.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalaysia cannot afford to continue losing doctors. The solution is not to seek compensation from others, but to create an environment where our doctors feel valued, supported, and given a future they can believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 \u2014 The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has dismissed former minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan\u2019s proposal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,101639,786,101640,8950,785,85],"class_list":["post-151502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-doctor-brain-drain","tag-fighting","tag-medical-brain-drain","tag-ministry-of-health","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}