The health ministry has received the green light to raise the on-call duty allowance for healthcare workers, with an announcement to be made “later”, says minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Dzulkefly reiterated that he had never stopped fighting for the welfare of healthcare workers, saying this had been one of his top priorities in helming the portfolio.
“We have already received approval for the increase in the active on-call allowance. We just need to announce the amount.
“I have been asked to wait for the announcement,” he said, according to Bernama.
The first announcement of a hike in allowance was made in February last year. Dzulkefly called for patience at the time, saying the issue had been discussed by the Cabinet and that an announcement would be made “in the near future”.
When tabling the 2025 budget, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the on-call duty allowance for doctors and dentists in certain categories would be increased by between RM55 and RM65.
This would work out to about 25% from the current RM200 for one 24-hour active call on weekdays.
On weekends and public holidays, the rate is RM220 per call. For passive calls, where doctors remain on standby at home, they are entitled to RM80 for weekdays and RM85 for weekends and public holidays.
An extra payment of RM50 is given for weekdays and RM55 for weekends if they are recalled to work for more than four hours. For specialists, the on-call allowance is RM230 on weekdays and RM250 for weekends and public holidays.
In January, the Malaysian Medical Association’s (MMA) government doctors’ wing criticised the ministry for being “elusive” about the promised raise in allowances, saying doctors had been waiting patiently for their allowances to be raised as promised twice last year.
The MMA section concerning house officers, medical officers, and specialists warned that a delay in implementation would lead to more doctors leaving government service.
