Perspectives / Contract doctors
Contract doctors walking out of hospitals in black: what happened in the 2021 Hartal Doktor Kontrak?
In short
At 11am on 26 July 2021, hundreds of contract doctors across Malaysia, dressed in black, walked out of government hospitals to ask to be made permanent. Of about 23,000 doctors hired on contract since 2016, only 789 had been made permanent, and contract doctors found it hard to pursue specialist training. Many had been on duty at COVID-19 treatment centres during the worst of the pandemic.
What is a contract doctor?
Since 2016, because there were too many medical graduates and not enough posts in government hospitals, newly graduated doctors have done their housemanship and the service that follows on contracts, not in permanent posts.
The system was meant as a temporary measure, so that graduates could start housemanship sooner.
But “temporary” went on for years. Contract doctors earn less than permanent doctors of the same seniority, have fewer benefits, and find it hard to get government funding and opportunities for specialist training.
Many of those holding the front line in the pandemic were them
In 2021, COVID-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia kept hitting new highs.
The strike’s spokesman, Dr Mustapha Kamal Aziz, told Al Jazeera that young doctors were working shifts of up to 36 hours and covering for colleagues who had tested positive and had to isolate.
He said they were burnt out and exhausted.
26 July, 11am
It was the day Parliament sat.
At several hospitals across the country, contract doctors dressed in black walked off their posts at exactly 11am, holding placards. At Hospital Kuala Lumpur, about 50 young doctors gathered in the car park. One doctor said they were not there to cause trouble. They only wanted to be absorbed into permanent posts, and many colleagues had been treating COVID-19 patients since the year before.
He also said about 150 had already resigned, because many were tired of the system.
Police were present, and the Ministry of Health warned of possible disciplinary action. In Kuala Lumpur the strike was forced to break up at about 11.27am. In Ipoh, about 30 doctors walked out of the hospital for three minutes, then walked back in through the emergency department to carry on working.
How did the government respond?
A few days before the strike, on 23 July, the Cabinet announced that doctors, dentists and pharmacists would get a further two-year contract after their compulsory service, to prepare for specialist training. Those already in specialist training could have their contracts extended for up to four years.
But the strike organisers felt this only extended the contracts without really solving the problem, so they walked out anyway.
One number says it all
According to Southeast Asia Globe, of about 23,000 contract doctors between 2016 and 2021, only 789 were made permanent.
Five or six years of medical school, hundreds of thousands spent, housemanship survived, first in line during the pandemic. And in return, a contract that may not be there in a few years.
What we want to say
This is not about blaming anyone. We just want to remember that in the hardest stretch of time, it was these young doctors who held the hospitals together.
Those few minutes they walked out in black were not because they don’t care about their patients. They hoped someone would hear them.
If you are a contract doctor, or used to be one, how are you doing now? Tell us anonymously.