Perspectives / Allowances
The allowance that was almost cut just before the pandemic: the 2019 BIPK episode
In short
On 20 December 2019, the Public Service Department (JPA) announced that from 1 January 2020, newly appointed government doctors, pharmacists and dentists would no longer receive the RM750 monthly Critical Service Incentive Payment (BIPK). New nurses would lose a similar allowance of 10% to 15% of basic pay. Healthcare groups objected strongly. A week later the Prime Minister agreed to postpone it, and in January 2020 the Cabinet decided to keep the allowance while it was reviewed. In 2023 the government said the review was still going on.
What happened?
On 20 December 2019, the Public Service Department issued a circular: from 1 January 2020, new civil servants in 33 “critical service” schemes would no longer receive the Critical Service Incentive Payment (Bayaran Insentif Perkhidmatan Kritikal, or BIPK).
Those affected included newly appointed doctors, pharmacists, dentists and nurses, as well as medical lecturers. Those already in service would keep receiving it.
The department explained that a 2019 review found these posts no longer met the original conditions for the allowance: a low rate of people accepting offers, and posts that were hard to fill.
What does RM750 mean?
For doctors, pharmacists and dentists, the allowance is RM750 a month. For nurses, it is 10% to 15% of basic pay.
If the circular had gone ahead as planned, people in the same hospital and the same department, doing the same work, would have been paid differently only because one joined a year later.
What did the healthcare community say?
The Malayan Nurses Union (MNU) and the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) both publicly asked the government to reconsider. The nurses’ union president hoped the Public Service Department would sit down with the union before putting it into effect. Doctors, pharmacists, dentists and medical students spoke up too.
What did the government do?
On 27 December 2019, one week after the circular, the Prime Minister agreed to postpone it and bring the matter to the Cabinet.
On 8 January 2020 the Cabinet decided to keep the allowance. The next day the Public Service Department confirmed that removing BIPK for new appointments was postponed until a review was done and the Cabinet decided again.
In March 2023, the Health Minister told Parliament that the allowance was still being reviewed. We could not find a final decision after that. If you want to know where it stands today, please check with the Public Service Department (JPA).
A few months later, the pandemic arrived
In March 2020, COVID-19 broke out in Malaysia.
On 27 March the government raised the special allowance for frontline health workers handling COVID-19 from RM400 to RM600 a month, starting 1 April. The Ministry of Health circular of 16 March did not list housemen among those eligible for that allowance.
The young doctors, pharmacists and nurses who put on protective suits that year were the same people who, three months earlier, had nearly started work with one allowance less.
What we want to say
This is not about blaming anyone. The government has its own budget considerations, and in the end it listened.
We want to remember two things. Speaking up worked: the decision was put on hold because healthcare people said out loud that it was unfair. And the question was never closed. An allowance that is “under review” for years is something many young healthcare workers still carry at the back of their minds.
If you joined as a healthcare worker around 2020, how did that time feel to you? Tell us anonymously.