Come back and we’ll treat you right, Malaysian medical specialists told

Star: Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the ruling was being reviewed as the Government wanted to attract Malaysian doctors home.
Currently, all doctors are required to undergo three years of public service in government hospitals.
“We are making it easier for Malaysians who want to come back and practice. A one-stop centre has been set up to help facilitate their return,” he said.
Liow said there was no way that the Government could match doctors' salaries offered at private healthcare institutions.
He said about 1,500 medical students graduated from public universities each year, and another 1,500 from private institutions. “We have housemanship and the compulsory service, but after that, they leave for private practice, so we are short (of doctors).”
Liow said only 60% of the positions for doctors in Government hospitals and clinics were filled, and encouraged doctors in the private sector to help ease the shortage.
“Giving more money (higher salary) is not the way to solve the shortage. We need to find a mechanism where private and government doctors can work hand-in-hand,” he said.
Liow said private doctors who helped out at public hospitals were paid RM80 per hour, and added that they should consider the act as a social obligation and national service.
“They can come (help) on their day off,'' he said after launching Sunway Medical Centre’s outpatient satellite clinic in Damansara Heights.
“Let us keep in mind that the practice of medicine is a noble art, not a trade; a calling, not a business.”
Later, when launching World Lupus Day in Bandar Utama, Liow said that a national registry of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients would be set up to monitor the disease among Malaysians.
He said the exact number of SLE (commonly known as lupus) patients in the country could not be ascertained as there was no registry. “It is important to diagnose and treat lupus early because it can cause disfiguring rashes and scarring, multiple miscarriages, kidney, heart and lung failures, impaired neurological function, strokes, heart attacks and even death,” he said.
Liow said SLE was an auto-immune disease in which the body produces antibodies that attacked its own organs. It can affect virtually any system in the body, particularly skin, heart, lungs, kidneys and brain.
“It is like a self-allergy where the body’s immune system runs riot.''
Liow said the Ministry would grant RM250,000 to the SLE Association to help kick-start the formation of the registry.