KUALA LUMPUR: Up to 95 per cent of 1,652 healthcare workers, consisting of government doctors and nurses, felt that the country's public health system is in crisis, driving 73 per cent of them to consider quitting their jobs.
The 73 per cent of respondents who thought of resigning from the public health sector were government doctors (across all seniority), pharmacy officers, dental officers, nurses, assistant medical officers and allied healthcare workers.
Almost more than half of them said they would take part in a strike if there was one organised for professionals or public healthcare workers while 14 per cent disagreed with such a move.
These were some of the results of an online survey conducted by health portal CodeBlue titled "Dissatisfaction Among Health Care Professionals and Workers In Malaysia's Health Services".
Two third of participants were 64 per cent medical officers, 11 per cent of house officers, eight per cent of medical specialists and pharmacy officers respectively; three per cent of medical subspecialists; two per cent assistant medical officers or medical assistants; two per cent dental officers and one per cent of nurses.
Majority of the respondents, up to 77 per cent, are currently serving at the Health Ministry's hospitals, 16 per cent at government health clinics and five per cent at university hospitals.
Some 53 per cent of them were female and 40 per cent male, with half of the 1,652 respondents aged between 30 and 39.
In the survey, only two per cent of overall respondents had disagreed that the public healthcare system was in a crisis while another two per cent were unsure of the situation.
The survey also showed that 53 per cent of respondents, part of whom are professionals, described that they were ''furious'' with the current public healthcare system according to a scale of zero to four.
On issues faced while in service, up to 83 per cent of respondents felt that the government was lackadaisical in resolving matters related to the public healthcare system.
Selangor healthcare workers were the most dissatisfied with the nation's healthcare system at 25 per cent followed by Kuala Lumpur with 15 per cent, Sabah and Penang at nine per cent respectively and Perak at six per cent.
Johor and Negri Sembilan came in at five per cent respectively, Pahang, Kedah, Melaka and Terengganu at three per cent respectively; two per cent in Kelantan and Putrajaya while it is 0.4 per cent in Perlis and 0.1 per cent in Labuan.
A total of 80 per cent respondents also agreed that they were not paid with commensurate salaries while 78 per cent said they were overloaded with work.
Some 74 per cent of respondents also felt they were under pressure or burnout at work and 61 per cent viewed their career progression in the public healthcare sector as unsecured.
The survey also found that 25 per cent of respondents admitted that they were bullied at work and two per cent faced sexual harassment at work.