KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry invites application from private doctors who are registered with the Malaysian Medical Council and fulfil the service requirement to serve at the 162 government health clinics nationwide.

Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said they could work at the clinics on “sessional” or “locum” basis and be paid RM80 per hour.

The working hours is from 8am to 5pm on normal working days (sessional), while the extended time is from 5pm to 9.30pm on Monday to Friday and 8am to noon on Saturday (locum), he said in a statement.

Those keen to apply can obtain further information and the application form by surfing the ministry’s website moh.gov.my/MohPortal/categoryView.jsp.

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THE 1Malaysia Clinic concept has received encouraging response from the people in its surrounding area while reducing the number of patients at government hospitals.

Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said in the past, many government hospitals were overcrowded with patients with coughs, colds and headaches.

“Patients seeking help for more serious ailments had to wait long for medical attention.

“With the 50 1Malaysia Clinics launched by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak on Jan 7 and with five of these located in the Federal Territory, those from the lower-income group are getting the medical care they need.

“It is estimated that 100,000 people from the surrounding neighbourhoods can seek treatment at the clinic in Lembah Pantai,’’ said Nong Chik, who visited the clinic recently.

The housing projects near the clinic are Pantai Permai Housing Project, Kerinchi Housing Project, Lembah Pantai Housing Project, Taman Bukit Angkasa Housing Project, Seri Pantai Housing Project, Taman Desa Kerinchi Housing Project and the Seri Pantai Traditional Village.

Besides the 1Malaysia clinic in Kampung Kerinchi, the other four are located in Intan Baiduri in Kepong, Taman Melati in Gombak, Kampung Pandan and Desa Rejang in Setapak.

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Department director Dr Ismail Abu Taat said since the clinics were opened last month, about 1,000 patients visit the clinics each week.

He said patients with serious ailments would be referred to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital or other government hospitals.

“Mostly, we offer treatments like cleaning of wounds, checking of high blood pressure, sugar level, treating coughs and colds and giving consultation.

The clinics operate from 10am to 10 daily, seven days a week.

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) lauds the Government’s move in setting up 1Malaysia clinics for the urban poor, saying it is in line with the caring concept.

However, its president, Dr David K L Quek, said that while the MMA supported better, affordable and more accessible healthcare facilities for the public, the announcement that the 1Malaysia clinics were manned by medical assistants and nurses took many doctors by surprise.

Writing in his President’s Column in the latest MMA bulletin, he said initially his personal opinion was that just 50 clinics around the country would have very little impact on any doctor’s rice bowl but he was wrong as the Government’s move had caused much anxiety and confusion among general practitioners.

“I have received, literally, hundreds of angry and condemning SMSs, and faxes and email demanding that the MMA address the issue which they felt had unfairly impacted their services. Almost every doctor who had complained believed that this approach of using clinics to be run by medical assistants and nurses was wrong in law,” he said.

He emphasised that the MMA strongly felt that all the 1Malaysia clinics should be manned by doctors in line with the Medical Act which dictated that all medical and health clinics be run only by registered doctors.

So far, the Government has set up 50 1Malaysia clinics in the urban areas to provide basic services like treating minor ailments and monitoring of diabetes and hypertension.

These clinics are manned by hospital assistants and nurses and periodically supervised by doctors.

Latest field reports indicate that these clinics are well received by the people and are becoming popular.

On the shortage of doctors, Dr Quek said the MMA believed that there was no real shortage but just a “misdistribution of resources”.

He said the MMA understood that logistical problems resulting from the reluctance of doctors to be relocated to a more rural or remote location despite improved perks remained a challenge for the Health Ministry.

Nevertheless, he added, it believed that a proper and fair deployment policy should be initiated to overcome the problem.

He said that if the 1Malaysia clinics were now part of the expanded public healthcare system, then the MMA believed that even more public sector doctors would be willing to be deployed on rotation or as part of a training initiative for an enhanced family practice or general practice vocation.

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