The doctor in the district hospital is the frontline doctor for patients. He must be equipped with enough knowledge and experience to know what to do in emergency situations. I do not know how these foreign contract doctors were recruited. They were not equipped with enough knowledge and experience to work in a district hospital. Some of them has no experience in obstetrics and gynaecology or in paediatrics.
Language barrier is another.
To overcome the acute shortage of doctors in rural areas, the ministry must first overcome several problems. It must find out why local doctors do not like to work in rural areas and also why they resign from government service. This can be done with a survey in all the government hospitals. Secondly, there must be strict rules and criteria in recruiting foreign doctors. It is interesting to note the recent statement by Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng regarding the lack of doctors in the government sector - especially in rural areas.