Housemen in govt hospitals to get RM100 for weekday OT

Star: AN additional RM100 will be given to housemen working in government hospitals for overtime shifts during weekdays, said the Health Ministry.
Its deputy minister Datuk Ros-nah Abdul Rashid Shirlin told the Dewan Rakyat the ministry had received numerous feedback re-garding the long working hours of housemen in government hospitals.
“As an incentive, we will provide an additional RM100 to those working on normal days, while RM110 will be given to those recalled on weekends or public holidays,” she told Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (PAS-Kota Raja) during question time.
Dr Siti had asked for the rate of allowances paid to interns or housemen who were “on call” to compensate for working extra shifts in government hospitals.
Rosnah noted that previously, the housemen were asked to work at least 90 hours a week compared with other civil servants.
“The long hours had made the job unattractive and created an unhealthy working lifestyle,” she said.
The ministry then introduced the flexi-hour working scheme, where housemen were only required to work a maximum of 60 hours per week, including spending time with the specialist, she added.
“They only need to work five days a week with two days off,” she said.
The housemen were also given a special incentive allowance worth RM600 per month as tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his Budget last month.