KUALA LUMPUR: The health ministry may consider offering permanent positions to contract doctors without pension benefits, provided that they are replaced with contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said the association had, in fact, previously proposed the idea of permanent positions with EPF during negotiations with the Health Ministry in 2019.
"The proposal was made when discussing the need for more permanent roles for contract doctors," he said in a statement today.
Dr Muruga, however, said the preferred choice moving forward would be to offer contract doctors permanent positions as per the current method.
"We understand that the pension scheme is a heavy burden, but a fund for retirement must be insisted upon.
"In fact, all state assemblymen and members of parliament (MPs) should show leadership by example by converting their pension schemes to a singular EPF contribution if pensions are too much of a burden.
"It has been reported that an assemblyman or MP can earn pensions from multiple streams from serving in several state or federal posts," he added.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa yesterday said the ministry was in discussions with the Public Service Department (PSD) on taking in contract doctors as permanent staff without pension benefits.
This, she said, was to deal with the workload that surpassed available resources, as well as to reduce the burden of the pension scheme on the country. The pension scheme cost taxpayers RM29.1 billion in 2021.