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U41 DILEMMA: THE AGONY CONTINUES…………………..

       The most talked about dilemma for the year 2006 is the U41 dilemma. One year has passed since promises were made that all U41 specialist gazetted from January 2004 will get their promotion to U48 from their date of gazettement but unfortunately everything seem to be moving very, very slowly.

           Every single doctor were waiting very patiently since the announcement from DG that all doctors would be getting their U44 upon passing postgraduate exams and U48 upon gazettement as specialist in October 2005. Unfortunately a disturbing news were heard from the Ministry of Health(MOH) about a month ago that sparked off a chain of letters and disappointments that were written in almost every mainline newspapers. What actually happened that sparked off this fire?

          Well, a month ago MOH received the letter of approval from JPA, for their proposal to promote all U41 specialists to U48. The letter says that all doctors who pursued postgraduate education before SSM (before Nov 2002) and completed it during SSM would be given special consideration to be promoted directly to U48. However this approval came with conditions. Firstly, they will be given “Memangku U48 Bukan Tujuan Naik Pangkat” from the current date. Secondly they need to pass a 3-5days PTK 3 course which would be held soon (hopefully!). I understand there was no mention of backdating the confirmation of U48 to date of gazettement.

          This was something that no one expected after waiting patiently for more than a year, infact almost 2 and a half years for doctors who were gazetted in 2004. Everyone thought that they would be getting their confirmed U48 from the date of gazettement as how the gazetted specialists in 2003 have got, under the SSB scheme. Unfortunately all their dreams were shattered with this announcement. It looks that the only privilege given were that of, skipping U44. I was also made to understand that this special privilege also ends as of gazettement 2006. All specialist gazetted from 2007 would have to go through U44. However, as usual the MOH officials have said that they have other strategies from 2007. I am not sure exactly what is their strategy after that. 

          The pain and agony that these specialists who were gazetted in 2004 suffering, seem to have no end to it. Some of these doctors just missed the SSB dateline by a few days and months but now they have to go through the entire bureaucracy of SSM. Not only they are insulted by the “Memangku Bukan Tujuan Naik Pangkat (BTNP)” but are forced to attend and pass a PTK 3 course after which the U48 may not even be confirmed from their date of gazettement. There are many questions that are yet to be answered. When this special PTK 3 course would be held? How long will it take for the results of this PTK to be announced? If we follow the current scenario, candidates who attended PTK 1, 2 & 4  received their results only after 6-8 months. How long after that would there be a “mesyuarat urusan kenaikkan pangkat!” to confirm the entire specialist involved? Would this group of doctors ever see the U52, U54 and JUSA C, with the current speed the rate of promotions are moving?

          Assuming the first group of U41 specialist gazetted in 2004 are given the “Memangku U48 BTNP” from 1/05/2006 and are called for the PTK 3 in August 2006, after which the results take about 6 months, they would be considered for confirmation probably a year from now. We must also understand the JPA bureaucracy, that the confirmation is also not an automatic process. I was made to understand that in order for you to be confirmed you must pass the relevant PTK, have good SKT marks and have at least “Memangku” for 6months to a year. And of course, it also depends on how many times these so called “mesyuarat urusan kenaikkan pangkat” are held in a year. Every doctor must also understand that the seniority of the doctor depends on the day the U48 is confirmed. A delay in the date of confirmation of U48 would affect all your promotions in the entire service for the future.

          So the agony of these U41 specialists is going to go on for at least another year or two. Currently they are already being insulted and demoralized of being in the same category not only with the houseofficers and medical officers but with at least 10 other professions. Below I list down other government services which also start at U41, for those who do not know;

• Pharmacist join service a year earlier, thus they would be at P1T5 at the time a doctor joins (difference of salary : RM 79.86)
• Optometrist and Dietitian join service 2 years earlier, thus they would be at P1T3 at the time a doctor joins. (difference of  salary : RM 239.58)

 So, why are we fighting so hard to become a doctor and study another 4 years to become a specialist to serve the people? Be a dietitian, optometrist or a pharmacist and you are only going to earn about RM 80-200 less than a doctor. Furthermore these categories of services can also be promoted up to U54 and these posts have already been created in every hospital. Soon we would have Sisters, MAs and dietitians sitting at U48/U52 and U54 directing us what to do. This would allow them to be eligible to be promoted as Pengarah’s of hospitals! 

Well, if this scenario continues then the future is very bleak for doctors in government service. We would be producing over 2000 doctors by 2015 but in expense of quality. Good and experienced doctors would surely be leaving to the private sector. Private sector is also expanding as more Malaysians are willing to pay to get faster services. For JPA, is the number that counts, 2000 coming in but only 300 leaving! As the agony continues……., the brain drain also continues………….