Kota Kinabalu: The number of housemen under the Health Ministry declined by 50 per cent since 2019, amid a reluctance to serve in East Malaysia, as highlighted in a recent NGO Sabar – Kopitiam Council podcast.
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) President Datuk Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira voiced concern over the decreasing number of new medical graduates completing their house officers training, amidst a rising trend of house officers dropping out.
Dr Kalwinder is the fourth Sarawakian to become MMA President in its 65-year history and is the first national president from the Ministry of Health in 10 years.
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According to Dewan Rakyat records, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad stated that only 3,316 housemen were appointed and placed at training hospitals nationwide in 2024. For 2025, the Ministry hopes to appoint around 3,000 medical officers.
If house officers leave before completing their housemanship, they cannot get full registration from Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and cannot practise as a doctor, and this trend would lead to a shortage of doctors in future, with patients receiving suboptimal care.
Dr Kalwinder said housemen who fail to complete their housemanship will not only be unable to practise in the country but also miss the opportunity to pursue any postgraduate training.
“This leaves them only with the options of finding a job in the healthcare sector which does not entail patient care or to move overseas to continue their career there. This would then lead to brain drain.
“This sort of loss will lead to an ever-decreasing number of new medical officers and even fewer specialists in the future, which will hurt the country’s healthcare capabilities in the long run,” he said.
Dr Kalwinder said efforts must be made to retain housemen in service by providing increased job security, training and career progression opportunities.
“Adequate attention should be given to ensure their work-life balance and remuneration which includes salary and allowances that commensurate with their dedicated service.”
Increasing patient load and longer waiting times for patients’ care and surgery burden the country’s healthcare system, coupled with medical inflation, stress out healthcare workers in a rising ageing Malaysian population.
Doctors can be retained by improving the remuneration, for example, by increasing on-call allowances, better working schedule and work-life balance, improving their welfare and addressing issues like bullying, providing more specialisation slots, more permanent posts and better perks for those in contract, among others.