A press statement by the health ministry on the on-call allowance for doctors has turned into a debate over how little government doctors earn for their hard work compared to how much more MPs receive, despite seemingly working less.
The Schomos section of the Malaysian Medical Association took the ministry to task for including in its statement of doctors’ allowances a list of 21 allowances that all civil servants are entitled to receive.
Another group, Hartal Doktor Kontrak, juxtaposed the allowances in the ministry’s statement with the list of monthly payments for MPs, which it says is several times more compared to the doctors who work much longer hours than the elected representatives.
The two groups were referring to a health ministry statement that revised on-call allowance would be implemented next year together with other related payments for health staff.
At the Dewan Negara last week, Dr RA Lingeshwaran took the ministry to task for not implementing new rates as promised in the last budget although it will cost only RM80 million annually.
Schomos, which groups house doctors, medical officers and specialists, said it was misleading to include the whole list of civil service allowances in the circular as junior doctors only qualify for a few of them.
Some were applicable to a small number of doctors only and others were enjoyed by staff in other services.
Schomos also posted a payslip of a junior doctor which showed only five other allowances he receives besides his basic salary. They are the housing, civil service, critical service, on-call, and cost of living allowances.
“We hope an increment in on-call allowance will be in place as soon as possible, especially as the last revision took place in 2012. The brain drain (from the health sector) is worsening and if this continues, the rakyat will suffer,” Schomos said.
Hartal Doktor Kontrak posted a list of fixed monthly allowances enjoyed by MPs which include a RM16,000 wage, RM2,500 for entertainment, RM1,500 for transport, RM1,500 for drivers, RM1,500 for ceremonial dress, RM900 for phone bills and RM300 for toll payments.
Besides this monthly fixed income of RM27,200, MPs are given RM400 each day they attend Dewan Rakyat sittings, RM2,000 every two years for handphone purchases, RM6,000 as one-off payment for computer purchase and RM1,000 every three years for black tie attire. They are also exempted from paying road tax.
As for pensions, they are entitled to it after the age of 50 if they serve a minimum of 36 months.
A former MP confirmed that the legislators are entitled for these allowances.
Several doctors who posted comments said while MPs receive RM400 just to attend Parliament even for a few hours, doctors are paid only RM200 for a 24-hour duty.
“They are paid RM400 to attend and fight over renaming a flower and call each other names for a few hours but we doctors get only RM200 fter struggling for 24 hours to save lives,’ one doctor said in a cynical post.
