Kota Kinabalu: Several government hospitals in Sabah have reportedly received no new Medical Officers (MOs) after doctors failed to take up permanent postings this week, adding to an already serious doctor shortage in the State.
Keningau, Beluran and Sipitang hospitals were among facilities reported to have received no MOs at all, while Ranau Hospital reportedly received only one of four expected doctors.
According to health news portal CodeBlue, which compiled accounts from government doctors and other health workers on social media, Ranau was left with just six MOs after three doctors rejected their permanent appointment offers and only one reported for duty on Monday (Sept 28) — equivalent to a 75 per cent no-show rate.
The situation was reportedly similarly acute elsewhere in the State.
Keningau Hospital was said to have received no new MOs, with several major departments already operating with single-digit numbers — five MOs in surgery, eight in medicine, six in orthopaedics and six in paediatrics.
Beluran Hospital also reportedly received none of five or six doctors it had been expecting.
One doctor from the hospital told CodeBlue that no one had taken up the postings, while social media accounts claimed only six MOs were left covering the hospital, including its emergency department, wards, outpatient services, referrals, transfers and patient escorts.
Sipitang Hospital reportedly received no new MO either, leaving eight MOs at the facility.
The Kudat regional health office was reportedly assigned 17 doctors, but only four turned up, representing a 76 per cent no-show rate.
Beaufort Hospital reportedly received just one new MO.
The figures, largely based on accounts by doctors and health workers, have not been independently verified by Daily Express.
CodeBlue said it had sought official data from the Health Ministry on the number of doctors nationwide who failed to report for duty.
The reported no-shows are significant because Sabah was already facing a shortage of medical officers before the latest posting exercise.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Hajjah Hanifah Hajar Taib told Parliament in July that Sabah had 2,803 MO positions, of which only 1,863, or 66.5 per cent, were filled.
Another 570 posts were vacant while 366 officers were on study leave.
Although 680 contract doctors had been deployed to Sabah to help cover the gap, the State was still short of an estimated 256 MOs, she said. The problem had already surfaced during an earlier permanent appointment exercise.
Of 39 doctors assigned to Sabah in the first phase this year, only 20 reported for duty while 19 rejected their offers.
Hanifah said another 4,172 doctors were to be offered permanent appointments nationwide in the subsequent phase, with 560 placements allocated to Sabah.
She projected that about 280 might eventually take up postings in the State if the acceptance rate remained at around 50 per cent.
The latest reported figures suggest the acceptance rate at several individual Sabah facilities could be considerably lower.
Under the latest placement exercise, Sept 28 was the reporting date for doctors at their new facilities under contract status before their permanent appointments take effect on Oct 5.
The arrangement, introduced in June, allows officers reporting to new placements to claim relocation-related expenses, including travel, accommodation and transportation costs.
Despite this, doctors commenting on the latest posting exercise continued to raise concerns about incentives and the difficulty of attracting and retaining medical personnel in Sabah and Sarawak.
One social media user summed up the concern by saying: “MOH isn’t understaffed. MOH is running on whoever turns up.”The Health Ministry plans to make 4,500 permanent MO appointments nationwide this year.
Official figures on how many of the latest batch failed to report for duty have yet to be released.
Meanwhile, Parti Warisan Health Bureau Head Dr Istefan Koh said the Ministry of Health should disclose how many of the 4,172 MOs in the latest intake accepted their permanent appointments, reported for duty or failed to turn up, with separate figures for Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
He said facility-level figures currently circulating should also be verified against official Ministry data.
“The no-show issue should not be viewed simply as a matter of doctors rejecting job offers,” he said.
“It is an indication that Malaysia’s healthcare workforce strategy may need to move beyond merely filling vacancies towards retaining its workforce.”
