“Waste of Time”: Unhappy With Budget 2022, M’sian Contract Doctors Plan For 2nd Nationwide Protest

By Jasmine Qistina  •  09 Nov 2021 in News

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Malaysian contract doctors have been front-liners of the Covid-19 pandemic for close to two years now with no guarantee of job security from the government.

The recently tabled Budget 2022 does little in addressing the demands of the Hartal Doktor Kontrak movement (HDK), sparking plans for their next protest. 

On Monday (Nov 1) night, HDK released a statement on their Twitter account mentioning a lack of responsibility taken by the government in solving the long going contract system issue. 

This is hard. But needs to be done. pic.twitter.com/sK5L1QRLiT

— HartalDoktorKontrak (@HKontrak) November 1, 2021

“For two years, contract doctors have battled hard against Covid-19, yet their sacrifices are not appreciated,” they said. 

Back in July, HDK held their first nationwide walkout where 20,000 doctors participated in hopes for permanent job positions to be given to doctors on contract as well as fairer working conditions. 

Despite the movement’s efforts and demands, Budget 2022 extended some 10,000 trainee doctor’s contracts by an additional 2 years. 

HDK said that the budget did nothing in supplementing the issue and is a “waste of time.” They announced a Hartak Doktor Kontrak 2.0 to happen some time in the future. 

Today, the ongoing issue will be addressed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the Minister of Health during the Ministers’ Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat. 

Mendesak kerajaan mengambil tindakan segera menyelesaikan isu terkait doktor kontrak sebelum mereka melancarkan gelombang kedua Hartal Doktor Kontrak nanti.#Parlimen #DewanRakyat #HartalDoktorKontrak pic.twitter.com/QtOhtUU8CJ

— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) November 9, 2021

Since the implementation of this system in 2016, only 1,000 medical officers were placed in permanent posts out of the 24,000 doctors working under a 5-year contract.