Malaysian doctors are severely overworked, bullied and burned out: Survey

PETALING JAYA – Malaysian doctors could be leaving the industry as they are severely overworked, bullied and burned out. This is unless the Health Ministry intervenes and addresses perennial issues in the healthcare sector, according to findings in a recent survey.

In conjunction with National Doctors Day, government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said Putrajaya took note on Sunday that there had been a 1,131 per cent increase in resignations involving Malaysian contract doctors in 2022, with 1,354 resignations compared with 110 cases in 2017.

The trend has been rising consistently every year, with 168 contract doctors leaving the service in 2018, 475 in 2019, 511 in 2020, 768 in 2021 and 1,354 in 2022, according to data from the Health Ministry.

Mr Fahmi said Malaysia has a brain drain rate of 5.5 per cent, which is significantly higher than the global average of 3.3 per cent, as reported by the World Bank Monitor report.

“Stemming brain drain requires political will, and the unity government under the leadership of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is committed to ensuring that no Malaysian is left behind.

“There will be a shift in all policy matters from race-based governance to one that is needs-based, where every Malaysian has the opportunity to realise their fullest potential,” he added.

The survey, conducted by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) from Sept 15 to Oct 1, showed that about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of doctors in the country experienced some form of bullying in their career.

A total of 253 bullying cases were reported in the survey, with almost 200 of them not revealing which states they were from, said MMA president Azizan Abdul Aziz.

It showed that Sabah and Melaka had no confirmed cases of bullying, with only 15 respondents identifying that they were from Sarawak, nine from Selangor and eight from Perak.

The MMA’s house officers, medical officers and specialists and its junior doctor network took part in the survey.

A total of 728 doctors from the public and private healthcare sectors participated in the survey, of which 476 were medical officers, 207 were specialists/consultants and 46 were house officers.

According to the survey, 50 per cent of specialists/consultants and house officers as well as 168 medical officers said they experienced bullying on the job.

“The survey also found that victims are unlikely to file a complaint out of fear or are unsure of how to go about it. Even so, no action was taken when they did,” said Dr Azizan.

The survey also found that most Malaysian doctors were overworked, with junior doctors the most affected.

About 60 per cent of junior doctors with less than two years’ experience worked overtime daily, and 20 per cent of those with over two years’ experience worked overtime every day, said the survey.

“Another 30 per cent to 40 per cent still work overtime at least three times a week. As for the frequency of Malaysian doctors working overtime, 35 per cent of doctors work overtime once to twice a week, 32 per cent work overtime three to four times per week, 24 per cent every day and 9 per cent never do,” the survey added.

Dr Azizan said the findings of the survey, regardless of the number of respondents participating, were significant.

“On bullying, these findings may be just the tip of the iceberg as many others might be suffering in silence. States with no reports of bullying do not mean that there aren’t any,” she said.

In February, Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa told Parliament that 3,386 contract medical officers resigned between 2017 and 2022.

The bulk of resignations, she said, took place in 2022, when 1,354 out of 29,548 medical officers left their respective jobs. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK