UNDERSTAFFED government hospitals have been a recurring issue lately with a constant influx of patients and lesser doctors at hand to see to these patients which as a result, creates longer waiting times.

A Facebook post recently highlighted this issue after a hand written notice displayed in a government hospital believed to be in Kedah went viral for its desperate plea.

The notice stated the hospital were short of doctors and estimated that patients may have to wait for five hours for their check up or consultation.

The notice written on the whiteboard added that doctors have overworked themselves to the point that they have collapsed and eight other doctors were still on call despite being ill, putting their patients’ lives before their own.

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Not only that, the notice stated that several doctors in that hospital have resigned with some gone to work at private healthcare centres.

“We want to serve the people but we are human too. We get tired and sick. We hope everyone understands. We are so sorry,” the notice read.

The Straits Times reported that Malaysia’s public healthcare system is struggling due to the number of doctors dwindling, especially housemen.

The numbers have been plummeting since 2019 with the number of housemen reduced by 50%, with data from as reported by The Star indicating 6,134 housemen in 2019 and 3,271 in 2023.

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Health rights group Hartal Doktor Kontrak spokesman Muhammad Yassin pointed out that the shortage had been predicted in 2021.

“Actually, this is a global trend where the newer generations are more inclined towards non-science streams. Hence, we have fewer undergraduates at medical school and fewer new medical graduates.

“In Malaysia, this is further exacerbated by the contract system issues which have been plaguing the country since 2016,” he said

It is said that the contract system have resulted in doctors paid, as quoted, “significantly” lower salaries not enjoy in the benefits of working for the government.

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Meanwhile, Malaysian Medical Association president Azizan Abdul Aziz mentioned that the decline in government hospital doctors is also due to the plunge in the number of medical students, corresponding with implementation of the contract system.

She also called on the Health Ministry for transparency in sharing its data on the number of healthcare workers to “produce more effective healthcare human resource planning,” as quoted.