KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry today denied allegations that it had stopped the recruitment of medical graduates approved by the Public Services Commission (PSC)
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the recruitment continued to involve graduates approved by the PSC to give them an opportunity to gain working experience as stipulated under The Medical (Amendment) Act 2012.
He said, since 2016, the recruitment of medical graduates was done on contract basis due to constraints in permanent positions, and recruitment was allowed without relying on limited permanent vacancies.
"The contract is offered up to three years to enable medical graduates to undergo training before being extended for another two years to enable them to complete compulsory service.
"Between December 2016 and May 31 this year, a total 23,077 UD41 Medical Officers were appointed on contract basis to undergo graduate training and compulsory service.
"Of the amount, 789 out of 2,544 officers from the 2016 1-Year Training Cohort, 2017 1-Year Training Cohort and part of the 2017 2-Year Training Cohort who were eligible had been offered permanent appointments by the PSC.
"Those who are still undergoing training and have not been offered permanent appointments will continue till 2022," he said in a statement today.
Dr Adham said permanent appointments were offered to officers who passed the criteria as outlined in the circular.
He said permanent appointments were done based on vacancies from time to time in line with the effective rules related to staffing and finance.
He said permanent appointments beyond existing total permanent posts were not allowed and would lead to audit remarks.
He said to ensure a fair and equitable evaluation, it would be made at every posting and the criteria was also informed to each officer.
Dr Adham said the Ministry has established three evaluation committees, namely the Permanent Appointment Technical Committee at the medical programme level; Permanent Appointment Selection Committee chaired by the deputy secretary general (management); and the certificate of permanent appointment to the ministry's top management (health director-general and secretary-general), to maintain transparency and integrity in the process of certifying appointments.
He said like other ministries, the Health Ministry was also subject to public services right-sizing policy and the application for posts were still being submitted to the Central Agency taking into account the actual staffing requirements at existing facilities and new facilities.
"The increase of employment is not made based on the number of medical graduates that increase each year."
Meanwhile he said, the government took note of the views submitted by the Malaysian Public Health Medicine Specialist Association and the Malaysian Islamic Doctors Association to review the recruitment and placement of new medical graduates to serve in the ministry.
He said the review was proposed to ensure medical graduates, especially among Bumiputeras, could be recruited on a permanent basis and further reduce the unemployment rate in the professional field in the country.