KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MoH) should publicise the selection criteria for its permanent positions in the public healthcare sector to address the "dejection" felt by many qualified contract doctors who have been applying for such posts.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai said the association was aware that offers of permanent positions were "ultimately based on the reports transpiring from the interview process" in spite of any additional educational or professional qualifications that a candidate may possess.
However, he said it would be good to have a set of selection criteria made known to the public to address the serious issues plaguing contract doctors.
"From the results of the selection process, we noted that among those rejected were people who had made the effort to go for parallel pathway programmes as well as those who excelled in their work. This resulted in dejection among these contract doctors.
"They have been informed that they will be offered a chance to reapply next year, but with even fewer permanent positions available next year, there is an outcry from the contract doctors wanting to know the selection criteria being employed to filter out those who will be offered permanent positions.
"Without knowing the selection criteria, many feel that they will be short-changed when they apply for permanent positions," he said in a statement today.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that 4,053 contract doctors had been offered permanent positions.
Among those hired were 3,215 medical officers, 438 dental officers and 400 pharmaceutical officers, while 225 applicants were put on a reserve list.