CAP objects to government docs doing locum work

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The decision to allow government doctors to do locum work in the private sector has been met with an emphatic “no” from the Penang Consumers Association (CAP).
CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris said government doctors were already overworked and spending long hours attending to their duties.
“How can they do justice to their patients if they take on the added responsibility of private practice?” he asked.
He said doctors would not be able to concentrate fully on their jobs with such a move as their energy would be divided.
“This is because paying patients will command more attention than their non-paying counterparts,” he added in a statement yesterday.
It was announced on Friday that government doctors could do locum work when they were off duty, provided that they observed certain rules.
Mohamed Idris said the Government should instead raise charges at public health facilities to generate extra revenue, hence allowing it to raise its doctors' wages.
This remuneration should be high enough to rule out the need for locum work, he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the move had been taken to retain doctors in the public sector.
“The matter had been studied by the Health Ministry and forwarded to the Government for implementation.
“Otherwise, the situation will become worse and they will resign from government service,” he said after launching the 2006 Felda AAM Malaysia Rally at Bukit Goh, near Kuantan, yesterday.
Najib also stressed that while government doctors had been given permission to do locum work, they were still required to give priority to their duties at public hospitals.