KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — A total 4,500 contract doctors will be offered permanent posts under Budget 2026.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said a total 1,500 permanent positions have been approved between 2023 and 2025 to absorb contract doctors into permanent posts.
“Including annual intakes, a total of 12,900 contract doctors have been absorbed into permanent positions,” he said when tabling the Budget 2026 today.
He said contract nurses were also being offered permanent positions where a total 833 contract nurses have been offered permanent posts this year while 935 graduates from the Health Ministry’s Training Institutes will be offered permanent posts next year.
On-Call Allowance for medical officers, specialist doctors and dental officers, which has not been reviewed since 2011, will also be increased by around 40 per cent effective October 1 this year with an additional allocation of RM120 million annually, he said.
“For example, a specialist doctor on active on-call duty during public holidays will see their allowance rate rise from RM250 to RM350,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has also agreed to reset consultation fee rate for general medical practitioners that has not been revised since 2006 to the range of RM10-RM80 as compared to the previous RM10-RM35.
“This provides greater flexibility in accordance with service levels offered, while maintaining a minimum rate that does not burden the public,” he said.
The government will also be launching a pilot public-private partnership project for essential medicines to improve the national medicine supply security and enhance the competitiveness of the local pharmaceutical industry.
