PETALING JAYA: Medical graduates need to get used to the pressure and challenges of their two-year housemanship stints, in order to prepare them for their careers ahead.
This was the Health Ministry’s message to prospective doctors who will be, or are currently, undergoing their housemanship in government hospitals.
“Future doctors or medical graduates need to undergo training as trainee doctors, or housemanship, for two years at the Health Ministry’s facilities before they are accepted to work with the ministry.
“They have to go through various challenges and mental and physical pressures during these two years as preparation in facing their actual career life,“ the ministry said on its official Facebook page.
The statement is also consistent with Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s comment on Tuesday, who had said the extra hours spent tagging (following senior doctors on rounds) was necessary to prepare them for life as doctors.
The ministry’s statement was in response to a report by theSun on trainee doctors being asked to work over 16 hours on some days with no overtime payment, and only getting a single day off each week.
It was learnt the housemen were required to work a minimum of 65 hours a week, including shift duties and on-call tagging, with some being forced to clock up to 80 hours weekly.
This has raised concerns that the doctors may not be at their best both physically and mentally when attending to their patients, while also putting their own safety at risk with insufficient rest.
In comparison, countries like Germany, Denmark and Sweden only require their medical residents to work a maximum of 48 hours a week.
Unsurprisingly, these countries are reputed to have some of the most well-developed public healthcare systems in the world.
The European Union (EU), in its European Working Time Directive, limits doctors to a maximum of 48 hours work per week, averaged across 26 weeks.
Although many EU countries have yet to adhere to the directive, more countries are beginning to show willingness in adopting the guideline, including the United Kingdom.
While it was reported on Tuesday that tens of thousands of junior doctors in England were working past the end of their shifts because hospitals were understaffed, the same cannot be said about Malaysia, who have an abundance of medical graduates waiting for houseman placements in government hospitals.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said on Tuesday that the ministry would come up with a report and state its stand on the issue of long working hours by the end of the month.
