Government Provides More Doctors For People's Healthcare

Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- "Please be seated. Now, tell me what is your problem".

Those were the words of a young Malay man dressed in a white doctor's overalls after this writer was ushered into the consultation room at Pusat Kesihatan Besar Pasir Mas, Kelantan in 1975.

His name tag read 'Dr Nik Azam' and he was the first local doctor that this writer saw after numerous visits to the hospital.

Four decades ago, it was a rare sight to see Malaysian doctors attending to patients as many hospitals nationwide employed foreign doctors, at the time, many of them from India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Over the years, in the effort to produce more Malaysian-born physicians, the government has established numerous public and private medical colleges in the country.

SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS

However, Malaysia continues to face a shortage of doctors, with the ratio falling short of the 1:600 standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, the ratio of doctors to patients in Malaysia has gone from 1:905 in the year 2000 to 1:940 in 2011.

"The Health Ministry has drawn up several measures, including introducing various incentives to raise the number of doctors and medical graduates in the country," she told newsmen at a function here.

She added that the ministry hopes to achieve the WHO ratio by the year 2015.

Rosnah also said that the ministry has allocated more doctors to serve in government hospitals and clinics in Sabah and Sarawak.

Sabah and Sarawak have a doctor-population ratio of 1:2248 and 1:1709, respectively.

MEDICAL COLLEGES

Based on statistics, as of Nov 17, 2011, there are 35 public and private medical colleges in Malaysia, including 12 in public institutions of higher learning (IPTA).

These medical colleges produce about 4,000 graduates a year.

Among the public medical colleges are those in Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

Some of the prominent private medical courses are offered by Monash University Malaysia, International Medical University (IMU), SEGI University College and Allianze College of Medical Sciences (ACMS).

Health Director-General Datuk Dr. Hasan Abdul Rahman said that there were 32,979 doctors serving in the country as of last year, with 22,429 of them working in the public sector.

Out of the total number of doctors working in the public sector, 19,429 were employed by the Health Ministry while the remaining were working with other government agencies like the public universities, Defence Ministry, as well as the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

Dr Hassan said that the Health Ministry has a target doctor-to-population ratio of 1:400 by 2020.

The ministry is targeting producing 4,500 housemen this year.

RATIO

Based on the Health Ministry's statistics, the number of doctors serving in the country has shown an increment every year from 1999 to 2006. The figures for these years were 15,503 (1999), 15,619 (2000), 16,146 (2001), 17,442(2002), 18,191(2003), 18,246 (2004), 20,105 (2005) and 21,937 in 2006.

As for the doctor to population ratio, there was one doctor serving 1,465 Malaysians in 1999, 1,490 (2000), 1,487 (2001), 1,406 (2002), 1,377 (2003), 1,402 (2004), 1,300 (2005) and 1,214 in 2006.

According to Dr. Steven Lim, who is a medical officer undergoing a masters programme at a hospital here, doctors are facing a heavy workload.

"The work load is too heavy and the hours are too long. Some housemen (junior doctors) have to work for up to 36 hours straight.

"In some major hospitals, the patient load is non-stop as they have to accept referrals from other hospitals," he said.

As for Sabah and Sarawak, there are 1,339 government doctors in the 'land below the wind' (Sabah) and 1,254 government doctors serving in the 'land of the hornbills' (Sarawak).