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Hadi Azmi

Doctors in Malaysia have raised serious concerns about overwork and patient safety after a presentation slide, purportedly leaked from the health ministry, suggested cuts to the rest hours of anaesthetists who are already stretched thin.
The slide, allegedly from a recent national-level discussion between health officials, said that anaesthesiologists may no longer be eligible for time off after a 24-hour on-call shift.
A photo of the slide circulating online prompted Nik Azmi Fathil, press officer of Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, to deny its veracity and pledge that the ministry has not made any such decision.
But that was not enough to assuage professional groups wary of looming cuts.
The Junior Doctor’s Network (JDN) at the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) responded to Fathil’s denial saying “of course” they went into panic mode and that safe and reasonable working hours are a paramount concern.
“It is non-negotiable for our health and patient safety,” the group said.
JDN previously mocked the ministry’s call for “prioritising mental health in the workplace” as this year’s theme for Mental Health Day, saying it is just “a decoration of words”.
“Doctors are not robots,” the group stressed.

Despite the official denial, social media platforms have since been abuzz with discussions about the potential implications of reduced rest hours for anaesthetists.
“I honestly think in anaesthesia fraternity, room for mistakes is very small due to nature of our works and the kind of cases that we handle. And we can’t risk it further by putting exhausted doctors doing the work,” wrote anaesthesiologist Ainun Nasihah in a post.
These apprehensions are underscored by recent tragic incidents involving doctors allegedly suffering from workplace issues.
In June, a doctor at Seberang Jaya Hospital in Penang was found dead in her car, with her family attributing the death to overwork and insufficient rest.
The ministry is also launching a probe into the apparent suicide of a doctor in August, whose family claims was subjected to persistent bullying by a senior colleague.
Many Malaysian doctors have raised concerns about a workplace culture marked by bullying, excessive hours, and inadequate support for health workers, as the state healthcare system struggles to meet the medical needs of the country’s rapidly ageing population.
Despite a steady increase in budget allocation over the years, the country’s medical sector is also contending with increasingly sharp workforce issues as overworked doctors leave the service while they struggle to absorb new ones due to bureaucratic red tape.


In an effort to address some of these grievances, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in June pledged to defend diligent public workers and later announced a revised pay scheme with increases of up to 15 per cent for the country’s 1.7 million civil servants.
“I will defend every single civil servant. I will defend them as long as they do their job well,” Anwar said.
Despite his assurances and the announced pay rise of up to 15 per cent in August, Malaysian civil servants say they continue to face substandard treatment.
In parliament on Tuesday, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng testified that nurses are provided with substandard fabric for their uniforms, saying they are so rigid that “tailors were unwilling to accept it for fear that their sewing machine’s needles would break”.
“It is so uncomfortable that there are nurses who give them away as burial shrouds,” Lim added.


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‘We can’t risk it’: Malaysian doctors denounce alleged plan to cut rest hours

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A purported leak from the health ministry saying anaesthesiologists may no longer be eligible for time off after long shifts has sparked outcry


A purported leak from the health ministry saying anaesthesiologists may no longer be eligible for time off after long shifts has sparked outcry.


Mental health

Anwar Ibrahim

Medicine