Materia Medica Malaysiana

Govt Doctors' On-Call Allowances Raised After 20 Years

SERDANG, May 26 (Bernama) -- The government has agreed to raise on-call allowances of Health Ministry's doctors and medical specialists by 100 per cent in some cases.

The review, the first in 20 years, would take effect next month, said Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek, Thursday.
He said with the review, specialists' allowance for "active call" of over 16 hours continuously on a working day was raised from RM75 to RM150 while the allowance on a weekend and public holiday was raised from RM113 to RM170.
All categories of doctors on "passive call" and were recalled to come to work for over four hours on a working day would receive an allowance of RM90, instead of RM45 while the allowance on a weekend and public holiday would be RM100, instead of RM68, he said.
He said the allowance for "passive call" of less than four hours on a working day was raised from RM23 from RM50 while that on a weekend and public holiday was raised from RM34 to RM55.
Dr Chua said medical officers on graduate training would also receive higher overtime allowances.
Those on duty outside normal working hours of over 16 hours continuously on a working day would get RM100. The allowance on a weekend and public holiday would be RM110.
The overtime allowance previously was only RM25, he said.
He said the review was approved during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Salary chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently.