Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad announced today that the government has agreed to pay an allowance of RM80 per hour to locum doctors in public healthcare facilities. The payments will start immediately.
In announcing the news, Dzulkefly said he hoped it would ease the stress and burden on those who had been pushing for these allowances.
“The government has studied and agreed to pay doctors who put in locum hours at public healthcare facilities, at a rate of RM80 per hour, effective immediately,” said Dzulkefly.
“We are happy with the outcome and consider the matter resolved.”
Last year, the Health Ministry said that medical officers assigned to work on Saturdays and public holidays might apply for locum allowance, while those who worked on Sundays from 9am-1pm could request replacement leave from their department heads.
Dzulkefly said this after witnessing the extension of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) between his ministry and IHH Healthcare Bhd to provide care and treatment for another 500 cancer patients from government hospitals. IHH Healthcare’s hospital network comprises Pantai Hospitals, Gleneagles Hospitals, and Prince Court Medical Centre.
He hoped other healthcare facilities and private hospitals will offer similar medical care to the public.
Under the agreement, IHH Healthcare will sponsor radiotherapy and radiosurgery for another 500 cancer patients undergoing treatment at government hospitals from March 1, 2024.
That brought the total number of patients who have benefited from the programme to 1,000.
“The MoU continues to support the National Strategic Plan for Cancer Control Programme (2021-2025), to widen access to care and treatment for cancer patients in the country,” said Dzulkefly.
“This MoU also enhances the ministry’s capacity to treat another 500 patients, and we do so at these facilities pro bono,” said Dzulkefly.
“I hope others in the private sector and the private healthcare industry will follow IHH Healthcare’s footsteps in working with the ministry to provide treatment to the public. We need to enhance this collaboration as some of them have equipment that government hospitals do not have.
“We will not make it mandatory, or a requirement, but it is important that others do so out of their own conviction and empathy to help us, like how they came together during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.