Assign more locally graduated contract doctors to serve in Sarawak

 MIRI: The reassignment of some 40 contract doctors here may result in a slowdown of medical services in Miri General Hospital and increase the workload for other doctors, said Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth Central Publicity and Information secretary Kelvin Hii.
 
To this end, Hii, who is also the SUPP Pujut Youth chief, urged the Ministry of Health to review and improve the issue of contract doctors as it directly affects the healthcare services accessible to the people in Miri.
 
“The federal government should reevaluate the mechanism of contract doctors and expedite the reassignment process to prevent further consequences.
 
“A reduction in medical personnel will have an impact on the public seeking medical help,” he said in a statement today (July 22).
 
Adding on, Hii called for the ministry to assign more locally graduated contract doctors to serve in Sarawak and increase the number of positions in government hospitals to improve the medical standard in the state.
 
“There were about 200 doctors who were originally supposed to be assigned to Sarawak but declined the placement due to personal reasons.
 
“Many of these new contract doctors are from outside Sarawak and may have limited knowledge and concerns about coming to Sarawak. This is a concern that deserves attention,” he said.
 
Furthermore, he stated that Sarawak has always been eager to attain healthcare autonomy through the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) to manage its own medical services and hospitals.
 
He suggested that if these issues persist, the federal government should promptly grant healthcare autonomy to Sarawak.
 
This would enable the state to directly address the shortage of medical personnel and increase the number of available healthcare positions, thereby improving the overall healthcare situation in the state.