Part-time jobs in govt hospitals

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is calling on private doctors around the country to take up 144 part-time vacancies in government clinics nationwide.
These vacancies are being offered to doctors in the private practice to serve on a locum basis.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who extended the invitation yesterday, said the ministry had received only 18 applications in March.
“We hope more doctors will help fill this shortage,” he said during a working visit to Hospital Ampang.
Liow announced that the doctors would be paid RM80 an hour.
Sessional shift in the clinics are from 8am to 5pm on weekdays while locum consultation is from 5pm to 9.30pm on weekdays and 8am to noon on Saturdays.
Liow said the ministry had allocated RM31mil for this initiative.
He also said the ministry had been opening its doors to doctors from the private sector to serve in government clinics and hospitals since 2002. According to Liow, there were about 10,000 doctors in private practice in the country.
Another 15,000 are in government service. The offer is also open to specialists to serve in government hospitals.
“They will be paid RM100 an hour for consultation and RM120 an hour if they need to perform surgery,” Liow said.
“Currently, there are only 20 specialists providing their services on a sessional basis,” he added.
Doctors interested in applying must be registered with the Malaysian Medical Council and can register online at http://www.moh.gov.my/MohPortal/formDetails.jsp?action=load&id=55

95% of govt dispensaries serve patients within 30 minutes

Star: PETALING JAYA: Almost 95.4% of the 39.4 million prescriptions for outpatients at government hospitals and clinics last year were dispensed in less than 30 minutes, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said yesterday.
He said 93% of government hospitals and clinics achieved the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) set by the Health Ministry to ensure that waiting times at pharmacies be under 30 minutes.
Dr Ismail also said that pharmacy services were now more patient-oriented to ensure medicines dispensed were safe, of quality and effective.
This, he said, was done through special services like clinical pharmacokinetics, nutritional support, oncology pharmacy and nuclear pharmacy.
“Medicine prescribed through these special services are based on individual needs which could improve the quality of treatment and reduce any side-effect,” he said in a statement.
Dr Ismail also said that 74 main hospitals, 62 specialist hospitals, 14 district hospitals and 37 health clinics nationwide had implemented the Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic programme.
The programme allows for optimum compliance on medication dispensing to avert complications in patients.
The pharmacy services had also implemented new methods for drug dispensing such as the Integrated Drug Dispensing System, drive-through pharmacy, SMS alerts and appointment cards to make it easier for patients to get their medicine supply.
He said 87 hospitals and 38 clinics were now offering these services to their patients.
Dr Ismail said the SMS alert service had received good response from patients, whereby they were only required to send a text message to a government pharmacy before picking up their medication.
Last year, the Integrated Drug Dispensing System handled 115,086 prescriptions.
“The system enables patients to obtain their medicines from any hospital or clinic of their choice,” he said.

All hospitals must report medication errors, says D-G

Star: PETALING JAYA: To ensure that patients are exposed to minimal risk when seeking medical treatment, all health organisations are now required to report medication errors and hospital-acquired infections, to allow remedial programmes to be instituted.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the ministry remained dissatisfied with the reporting system practised by certain private health organisations.
“Some already have the mechanism while others do it for their internal consumption.
“We are very concerned about patient safety but things do not seem to be moving in the private sector,” he said yesterday.
A total of 2,572 medication errors were received by the Malaysian Medication Error Reporting System which started last year.
The Patient Safety Council, which seeks to enhance the safety of the healthcare system, recently drew up more measures to be implemented from this year.
He added that several of these measures would eventually be included in the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act.
Dr Ismail, who chairs the council, added all hospitals in the country must implement the safe surgery programme, which is being practised in major state hospitals.
“The director-general and his top management team will initiate a programme for regular, random inspection of healthcare facilities in government hospitals, including university hospitals as well as the private sector to identify opportunities for improvement,” he added.
He said that in order to protect healthcare workers, all stakeholders were encouraged to plan for the implementation of “needle-less sytems” in their clinical operations.
Such systems, he said have been shown to reduce the risk of communicable diseases being transmitted, besides reducing the cost of having to treat infected healthcare workers and patients.

9,698 health officers promoted under career advancement plan

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 9,698 health officers were promoted from Grade 44 up to Grade 54 following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s announcement on Tuesday on a comprehensive career advancement plan for the three services under the Health Ministry.
Chief secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said they comprised 8,521 clinical/administrative medical officers, 650 dentists and 527 pharmacists.
For a start, 2,554 doctors on Grade UD44 were promoted to Grade UD48 right up to Grade UD54 effective Tuesday, he said in a statement on Friday.
For specialist doctors, 12 were promoted from Grade UD44 to UD48, 68 to UD52, and 321 to UD54. Of the non-specialist doctors on Grade UD44, 1,751 will be promoted to UD48, 312 to UD52 and 90 to UD54.
“The promotion of all Grade UD44 medical officers to the grade that they are eligible for will be implemented before March 31, 2010,” he said.
Sidek said that under this new career path, the promotion of medical, dental and pharmaceutical officers up to Grade 54 in the ministry would be based on the length of service and no longer on vacancies.
“The promotion of medical officers on Grade UD48 and UD52 as well as that of all eligible dental and pharmaceutical officers will be implemented in stages based on this career advancement plan,” he aded.
He said the medical officers concerned could check the plan via the ministry’s website at www.moh.gov.my
He said the government’s decision was in recognition of the contributions of the medical officers in raising the country’s health service level and to motivate them to continue providing quality service as well as to maintain their interest to serve longer in the public sector.
Najib, when announcing the plan, said it was aimed at providing opportunities for more attractive career advancement in a shorter period.
For example, he had said, a medical specialist could rise to Grade UD54 in nine years compared with 11 years now while for a clinical/administrative medical officer, it would take 12 years instead of 17.

Career Advancement Plan Will Help Retain Doctors In Public Sector

Bernama: KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the country's premier organisation representing doctors, believes that the newly-announced comprehensive career advancement plan for doctors, dentists and pharmacists will help retain the doctors in the public sector.
Its president, Dr David Quek said this was also a vital move to maintain the number of doctors in the public sector, which currently was declining.
"It would certainly encourage more doctors working in the government hospitals and clinics to remain in the service rather than consider venturing out into private practice," he said in a statement here, on Wednesday.
The comprehensive career advancement plan was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday.
The initiative, which involved an additional annual expenditure of RM200 million, was aimed at improving career advancement by giving them the opportunity to move up to Grade 54 within two to five years.
Dr Quek said MMA had been working closely with the government to improve the service, training opportunity, salary, allowance and other perks and benefits for the doctors in the public sector.
"Over the past many years, we have, through our Schomos (Section Concerning House Officers, Medical Officers and Specialists), liaised closely with the Health Ministry and the Public Service Department to improve the conditions of service.
"We are therefore very delighted that most of our requests have now been answered, and that so many doctors would now benefit from such upgrading service," he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Dental Association (MDA) president Dr Lee Soon Boon also agreed that the plan would stop the exodus of dentists from the public to the private sector.
Besides, he said, the initiative was also deemed appropriate due to the current situation where most doctors were also entrusted with heavier responsibilities.
At present, he said there were 3,606 dentists in the country, 53 per cent of whom were in the government service, while the rest were in the private sector.
Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Datuk Nancy Ho, on the other hand, said that the initiative clearly showed that the prime minister was serious in promoting the 1Malaysia concept.
"We appreciate the recognition from the government to pharmacists for doing a professional job. This also shows that they are concerned about the people and the professionals," she explained.
She also believed that the initiative would encourage pharmacists nationwide to discharge their duties to the best of their ability.
Meanwhile, Cuepacs president, Omar Osman said Cuepacs lauded the career advancement plan for the medical and education sector, but believed that the government should consider similar initiative for other sectors too, especially for workers of lower grade and those in the rural areas.
"Attention should also be given to those working in the rural areas because they are closer to the people," he said.

Faster Promotion For Doctors, Dentists And Pharmacists To Grade 54

Bernama: KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Tuesday announced a comprehensive career advancement plan for public doctors, dentists and pharmacists, which expedites their promotion to Grade 54 by between two and five years.
He said the initiative, which involved an additional annual expenditure of RM200 million, was aimed at improving career advancement by giving them the opportunity to move up to Grade 54 within a more reasonable time frame.
For example, a medical specialist can progress to Grade 54 in nine years compared to 11 years now, and a (clinical/administrative) medical officer can move up in 12 years compared to 17 years now.
"Following this improvement in the career advancement plan, the government hopes that doctors, dentists and pharmacists in the Health Ministry will continue to provide excellent service to the people," he said in a statement.
Najib also said that the Public Service Department (PSD) and the Health Ministry were working out the promotion of eligible Grade UD44 medical officers to Grade UD48, and the majority of them were expected to be enjoy the benefit before the end of this month.
Najib said the improvement was in recognition of the role and contribution of those providing healthcare to the people, and it was felt that this would enhance their commitment and determination to fulfill the desire to raise the level of service at government hospitals.
Elaborating, the prime minister said that on Dec 5, 2007, the government agreed to promote directly to Grade UD44 all medical officers appointed from Jan 1, 2008 onwards, soon after completing their two-year housemanship and having registered with the Malaysian Medical Council.
To ensure that medical officers appointed prior to Jan 1, 2008 were unaffected by the decision, it was decided to promote these officers to Grade UD44, he said, adding that this involved promoting 9,871 medical officers in 2009.

The career advancement plan is as follows:
* Promotion to Grade 44 for dentists who have been on Grade 41 for two years, and for pharmacists after three years.
* Promotion to Grade 48 for doctors and dentists who have been on Grade 44 for three years or up to the date of gazetting as specialists, whichever is earlier; and for pharmacists who have been on Grade 44 for four years.
* Promotion to Grade 52 for (clinical/administrative) doctors and dentists who have been on Grade 48 for four years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier; also for medical specialists and dental specialists who have been on Grade 48 for two years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier, and subject to recommendation of the Specialists Evaluation Panel of the Health Ministry, and pharmacists who have been on Grade 48 for four years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier.
* Promotion to Grade 54 for (clinical/administrative) doctors and dentists who have been on Grade 52 for three years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier.

For medical specialists and dental specialists who have been on Grade 52 for two years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier, and subject to the recommendation of the Specialists Evaluation Panel.
For pharmacists who have been on Grade 52 for three years or subject to availability of vacant positions, whichever is earlier.
For medical specialists and dental specialists, the promotion from Grade 54 to Special Grade C and higher is subject to the recommendation of the ministry's Specialists Evaluation Panel.
For medical officers (clinical/administrative), dental officers (clinical/administrative) and pharmacists, the promotion from Grade 54 to Special Grade C and higher is subjection to availability of vacant positions.
Najib said that based on the career advancement plan, the maximum period for doctors, dentists and pharmacists eligible to be promoted up to Grade 54 had been shortened.

The average period for promotion to Grade 54 is as follows:
* Medical officers (Specialist) - nine years (now 11 years)
* Dental officers (Specialist) - nine years (now 11 years)
* Medical officers (Clinical/Administrative) - 12 years (now 17 years)
* Dental officers (Clinical/Administrative) - 12 years (now 17 years)
* Pharmacists - 14 years (now 17 years)

A bitter pill for GPs from MMA

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: General practitioners should re-engineer themselves in light of stiff competition from government and private hospitals and rapid medical science development, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said.
Its president Dr David Quek, in his column in the latest MMA bulletin, said the role of general practitioners was increasingly depreciated and marginalised and they were “a marked and endangered species teetering on the brink of extinction.”
Doctors, he said, should realise that times and medical practice had changed and they should look within themselves to re-engineer their modus operandi.
“General practitioners have to emerge from their cocooned complacency that simply serving quietly and earnestly behind long hours of general practice would suffice. It will not,” he added.
Dr Quek said the MMA would assist general practitioners by organising a summit where all issues and their future challenges could be debated to prepare a comprehensive policy.
He said he hoped doctors in the public sector would also come forward to provide input for the betterment of the profession.
In the same bulletin, MMA member Dr H. Krishna Kumar said 4,000 new doctors were joining the profession every year and this posed great competition to private practitioners.
Another source of competition was the improvement of services provided by government hospitals, where there were now more locums to man the accident and emergency departments, thus reducing waiting time, he said.

Doctors wanted at 162 health clinics

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry invites application from private doctors who are registered with the Malaysian Medical Council and fulfil the service requirement to serve at the 162 government health clinics nationwide.
Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said they could work at the clinics on “sessional” or “locum” basis and be paid RM80 per hour.
The working hours is from 8am to 5pm on normal working days (sessional), while the extended time is from 5pm to 9.30pm on Monday to Friday and 8am to noon on Saturday (locum), he said in a statement.
Those keen to apply can obtain further information and the application form by surfing the ministry’s website www.moh.gov.my/MohPortal/categoryView.jsp