Its president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said many contract medical officers were uncertain about their positions and the status of their contracts come December.

“To pursue the parallel pathway, medical officers will require an extension of 10 years for specialist training.

“Although permanent positions and contract extensions were not included in Budget 2021, MMA hopes this will be looked into in efforts to address the manpower shortages in public healthcare,” he said in a statement.

He also thanked the health ministry for implementing a salary adjustment for contract medical officers from grade UD41 to UD43, after MMA had brought up the issue on numerous occasions.

However, Subramaniam hoped that the ministry’s cost-saving measures would not include the retraction of other allowances, such as the critical allowance which was reinstated earlier this year.

“It is hoped the ministry of health will soon provide clarification on this,” he said.

Previously, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba had announced that all contract medical officers would be given the salary level of UD43, compared with permanent doctors at UD44. This is expected to involve some 2,000 medical officers.

He also said the ministry would absorb the contract personnel as full-time staff after the salary adjustment was carried out, and that there were plans to send local medical officers to serve in England.