KEPALA BATAS: A review of medical personnel salary scale is crucial to prevent further brain drain in the country's public healthcare, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said.
He said many specialist doctors and nurses were now quitting their job at government hospitals after finding their salaries to be 'stagnant and unattractive'.
"The government has introduced several initiatives in order to keep our medical personnel from leaving the public service, including introducing Grade 56 for a higher basic pay. However, we find that the brain drain still occurs.
"So if the Public Service Department reviews the salaries scales, then it might prevent further brain drain," he said at Kepala Batas Hospital here today.
In 2015 the government introduced a scholarship master's degree medical training programme for medical practitioners at local universities. Some 500 medical practitioners had graduated so far but one third of them later resigned due to lower salaries.
Dr. Hilmi said the private hospitals offered up to ten times the salary given by government hospitals, making jobs in the private sector more attractive.
Currently government hospital medical specialists were paid between RM4,000 and RM15,000 excluding allowances.
It was reported that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had also called for a review of medical practitioners salary recently.
On a separate matter, Hilmi questioned the reason for the 'teh tarik' coloured flood water that inundated the state on Friday.
He said that illegal logging might be the reason as water flows down and erodes sand before joining rivers in the island resulting in the muddy waters.
"Even in Balik Pulau, the flood waters were brown colour. What could be the reason if there is no deforestation of the hillside.
"During the Barisan Nasional state government's time, we also experienced heavy downpour but we managed to solve it quickly but since they (Pakatan Harapan state government) took over, flashfloods happen frequently," he added.
The heavy downpour inundated over 100 locations throughout the state on Friday morning.