As you may or may not know, all doctors (will full registration) in Malaysia have to serve the government for a period of 2 years before they are allowed to work in the private sector on a full-time basis. It used to be 3 years a long time ago. This compulsory service was initially introduced to address the shortage of doctors in the civil service as everyone left for the greener pastures of the private sector. However, times have changed and things couldn’t be more different today. With so many fresh medical graduates being pumped out like a Krispy Kreme donut assembly line, waiting times for housemanship stretching to many months, and insufficient training hospitals, one would wonder why this compulsory service is still maintained.
“Ma, can we have that doctor, I mean donut? Looks YUMMY!”
Dentists in Malaysia immediately enter the medical service as medical officer equivalents. In this sense, they do not have a housemanship period. Their compulsory service used to be 3 years, then 2 years, and consequently, 1 year. This also means that they get to move into the private sector WAY faster than their doctor counterparts. Now with the introduction of contract house officers with no guarantee of a permanent medical officer position post HO training due to the Ministry of Health (MOH) not having an appetite voracious enough to consume all the Krispy Kremes, it seems like the MOH peeps should consider releasing their unwilling/unsold donuts instead.
Lets get a few things clear first.
If you are a house officer (HO), your 2 years spent during the training program will not contribute to the compulsory service. It is calculated from the date of your full registration. Some HO’s get their full registration on the 1st day of their final/sixth posting while some only register upon the completion of housemanship. Of course if you’re looking to leave the civil service ASAP, then getting your full registration dated on the 1st day of your final posting helps to shorten the total time spent in the civil service.
For most HO’s, upon completion of their 2 year training, they will float for about a month before being posted as a medical officer in another state. Some will float for longer periods if they applied for deferment, whether it’s for an appeal on the placement or if they just really want to go for that vacation to Japan. This floating period is also taken into account for your compulsory service.
For medical officers (MO) returning from abroad, you will have to serve 2 years with the government as compulsory service. However, if their internship training (equivalent of housemanship) does not cover core disciplines like obstetrics and gynaecology, they will have to spend 4 months per missing discipline instead of enduring a whole 2 years of housemanship prior to working as a medical officer in Malaysia. For specialists, no way around it either. Serve the 2 years. Capiche?
Now if you do the maths, getting registered at the final HO posting and floating for 1-2 months, one would already have contributed 5-6 months to his/her compulsory service. One only needs to serve as a medical officer for another 1.5 years (16 or 17 months) before being able to leave and become a private GP/ aesthetics doctor/ full-time ED MO at a private hospital etc.
Is this the fastest way? Can I still shorten it somehow?
Yes, if you have VALID reasons. Exemption or reduction.
One can apply for exemption of compulsory service. I’m not going to go into that, you can read more on it at http://www.mmc.gov.my/index.php/compulsory-service or http://www.mmc.gov.my/images/contents/downloadable/Compulsory-service.pdf
You can apply for a reduction in compulsory service so that you serve a total of 1.5 years instead of 2 years. Of course, you’ll need to give a good reason for them to approve your request. Be it cause of a medical condition, family reasons etc, whatever that floats your boat yeah. If you get your reduction to 1.5 years instead of 2 years, coupled with the time ‘saved’ from your final posting in HO-ship and the floating period, one could potentially only need to serve for 12-13 months.
That’s almost a 50% discount!!!
When I previously enquired with the Malaysian Medical Council regarding this reduction in compulsory service, I was told that one can only apply once he/she has reached the 18 month mark. That means you can’t try to weasel your way out earlier by sending your form in advance. But trust me, time passes by so fast that before you know it, you’d have serve your compulsory service and more! I’ve had plenty of friends and ex-colleagues who moan and groan about the compulsory service but are still within the civil service. Which can only mean two things:
- They are way lazier than I am when it comes to sorting these things out.
- Government service isn’t all that bad.
Compulsory service means serving in the civil service, regardless of agency. That means you could very well apply for a position within the Ministry of Education or another ministry and your time there could be counted as part of your service. You will need to fill up only page 6 of the exemption form, requesting for service at another agency and also provide an explanation letter for the request. It is pretty straightforward. However, if you have served in the Ministry of Health and then change to a different ministry, the 2 years will be calculated from your time served in the new ministry instead. Which means the ‘time discount’ from the HO final posting and the floating period will not be applicable.
Why? I have no clue. It does not make sense as one is technically still serving the government during the entire process so why shouldn’t that time be taken into account? Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. Having spoken to a representative of the MMC, each application will be looked at on a case by case basis. Say if you get fired from your second government agency and have not fulfilled a whole 2 years with this new agency, they can apparently take into account your time spent in your previous government agency.
So there you have it. I hope this post helps clarify some doubts you may have on the compulsory service for medical officers. Till next time!
The Whiny Doctor 