After experts sound alarm, Kit Siang says urgent action plan needed to reverse brain drain in healthcare sector
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 — DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang today called on the new federal government to set up a programme to curb the migration of highly skilled citizens after experts highlighted the country's continuous outflow of talent.
The former lawmaker proposed the establishment of a special unit under the Prime Minister’s Department to look into the brain drain crisis in key sectors as he urged for an "aggressive policy" to reverse five decades of talent flight.
"Malaysia must have a programme to reduce the migration of highly skilled citizens as part of the policy to make Malaysia great again, as well as to attract highly-skilled talent to Malaysia," Lim said in a statement issued this morning.
"There should be a special unit in the Prime Minister’s Department to stem the brain drain in key sectors, which should conduct an aggressive policy to turn the five decades of 'brain drain' into a 'brain gain'," he added.
Last Thursday, news portal Malaysiakini reported the former University of Malaya’s Dean of Medicine Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman as saying that Malaysia loses at least 30 of its best and brightest medical graduates from the University of Malaya to Singapore every year.
Adeeba said it costs the country almost RM1 million per student to train.
On Sunday, Sin Chew Daily reported that Singapore has a policy to "grab” talents from Malaysia’s Chinese Independent Secondary Schools, and this is equivalent to 300 to 400 students a year since 2015.
Many venture to Singapore to continue their higher studies, and later to remain and help in the economic growth of the island republic, the newspaper reported, citing experts.
Lim suggested the government should start by addressing healthcare workers' grievances and complaints and address the issue of contract doctors' once and for all.
"Malaysia does not need contract doctors as they should be absorbed into the public health and medical system," the DAP leader said.
"The new Health Minister should initiate a wide-ranging inquiry into why Malaysia had been such a poor performer in the Covid-19 pandemic when a global study on health in 2010 placed Malaysia as among the top 20 countries in the world."
The inquiry's findings should form the basis of a 30-year national health plan 2023-2053 apart from preparing Malaysia to be better prepared for the next global pandemic, Lim added.
