Economic turmoil affects doctors’ working hours and pay

Doctors in government clinics and private practitioners are locked in fierce competition for overtime work, to cope with the strain of the economic climate.

Some private practitioners are losing patients who are choosing to be treated at government clinics, where they are only charged RM1 per appointment, rather than the RM15 that they are charged for private treatment.

To cope with the increase in demand, some government clinics are now opening until 9.30pm each day, offering doctors RM80 an hour in overtime payments.

The Ministry of Health has refuted claims that government doctors receive preferential treatment over private practitioners for overtime work in clinics. It claims that more government doctors may be receiving overtime work because it takes longer to verify the credentials of private practitioners, while government doctors’ credentials are readily available for checking.