How to drive doctors from public service III
posted in - Nation, - Palmdoc |I spotted this Doctor’s Cry in a letter to Malaysiakini
Some facts have to be highlighted prior to proceeding. Reporting for duty is both exciting and grueling. Exciting - new people and place, grueling - the number of forms to fill. Housing allowance is provided to government staff irrespective of where you come from. In peninsula, it is called “Imbuhan Tetap Perumahan (ITP)”. If you are transferred to Sabah or Sarawak, you’ll get the “Elaun Pindahan Wilayah (EPW)”, the latter being more, considering the higher cost of living. The bottom-line is it is a housing allowance.
When Dr K applied for what he was qualified for, EPW, the hospital administration staff was happy to throw a bombshell at him. He was asked to produce his parents’ birth certificate. You heard me loud and clear. Yes, not his but his parents! (The very same ministry was paying him the housing allowance for nine years without even knowing whether he had parents or not!).
If that’s not enough, he was told that he will be denied his hard earned pay for at least four months because the State Account General will take four months to verify that Dr K is Dr K despite being in service to the same ministry for the last nine years! By the way, the SAG’s office is 20 minutes from the hospital. But he is required to work, with no questions asked for four months without salary.
It will be interesting to know that if this happens to a specialist transferred from the peninsula, what will happen to the poor house officers and medical officers. Dr K was in dire straits. He has car and housing loans to service, two children to feed and educate, various bills in peninsula as well as Sabah to pay. He has already received a lawyer’s letters demanding payments which have indirectly lead him to be denied of any loans in the future. Having done two years of pre-med, five years of med school and four years of a backbreaking masters’ programme, Dr K was at the mercy of a SPM dropout clerk to determine his salary payment.He sought for help from his superiors who only had ample of moral support to give. This happens to many of us here in Sabah due to the lackadaisical attitude of clerical staffs.
We beg on a daily basis to the hospital administration to speed up the paperwork for us but the joy of denying a doctor his salary is too overwhelming for them. Many house officers face the same fate, threatened by the system which upon voicing justice would send him or her to the interiors.
Medical officers, immuned by inefficiency of the administration, continue serving the patients and the hospital, afraid of being denied Masters programmes or being labeled rebellious. Highlighting this problem even to the state health director bears no fruit. That’s how the system works and you are supposed to impregnate yourself into it. When questioned, invariably they point fingers to their superiors (who go as far as Putrajaya).Several questions need to be answered. The Public Services Department insists on a peninsular-born doctor to produce his/her parents’ birth certificates to qualify for housing allowance if transferred to Sabah. This despite both parents being Malaysians and MyKad will not be accepted. Is this necessary to do public service?
There’s an unusual delay (about three months) in paying on-call, locum and transfer claims. Why the delay, as it involves only a couple of signatures by the hospital director and the accountant who works in the same hospital? Who can listen to our grouses and provide a reasonable solution to our paper-work related problems? Can the Director-General of Health help, as nobody in Sabah can.
Can the insensitive nature of the administration staff be changed or do we behave like them and say Malaysia Boleh? How do unhappy doctors serve the patients happily and politely? I guess many of these questions will remain unanswered and this cry of ours will be brushed aside as just another complaint.
To sum it all, basically it’s a bumbling and inefficient administration which frustrates doctors in public service. Is the MOH listening? We already mentioned more examples in previous posts:
How to drive doctors from public service
How to drive doctors from public service II
Last 5 posts by Palmdoc
- Doctors’ compulsory service may be reduced? - February 8th, 2010
- Condolences - February 8th, 2010
- Unrecorded leave for organ donors - February 8th, 2010
- Cancer can be prevented - February 3rd, 2010
- Beware of HOs - February 2nd, 2010
October 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
The absurdity that (future) doctors, especially HO, who wants to work in Sabah should learn about before you come here to Kota Kinabalu…
Yes, they said all sorts of cases come here in Queen. Cirrhosis of all stages, CRHD nearly bursting, melioidosis of the most bizarre, SLE with autoimmune hepatitis, phaeochromocytoma with BP of 220… yada yada… and wow, high EPW (Elaun Pemindahan Wilayah). And your first salary as HO amounting RM5000+ excluding the on – call allowances.
Wait 2 – 4 months for your claim of flight tickets… Dear Peninsulites.
Learn through the agonizing (plus starvation) way that your salary will only be delivered to you after 4 months time.
Hear them announce that you only have the weekend to find lodging. No my dear, the hospital lodging has several rules and terms to comply prior application.
Your first call and 20 new admissions come in within 2 hours at 2 am, that you’ll wince and cringe with each ambulance siren.
Experience starvation as you scramble for time to finish your 8 am bought – breakfast at 8 pm.
The legendary lackasaidal and absurd slowness and tardiness of non – medical staffs here who saunters in and waste your time over their friendly chatting with the person next to them (and no, not to you. Lucky you, you wont get a bored face with a bored voice). Generalized this to the public services too.
Punch in at 8 am. In your dreams. That is for non – medical staffs, and they go for coffee breaks right after punching in, and hopefully come back before lunch time. To attend to your… what was that again? Oh, right, right… if only they can find the right file / document / shelf…
Sorry to say, my feelings are bordering to contempt throughout my 5 years stay here in Sabah, bitterness aside.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Believe me Palmdoc, it will definately work.
I have done the same thing before.
It will cause a small time 6.0 on the Richter (admin version). ha3. Have a good weekend chief.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Good suggestions you put up Langitputra. It remains to be seen which of these channels, if any, actually works