FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BRAIN-DRAIN PHENOMENON OF DOCTORS FROM THE PUBLIC SECTOR TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN SELANGOR AND KUALA LUMPUR

ABSTRACT Background: Annually, approximately 10% of the existing public sector doctors in Malaysia leave public service mostly to join the private sector causing inequitable healthcare provision for the public. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify factors which contributed to their migration from the government service. Methods : A cross-sectional study using self-administered postal questionnaire was conducted among private sector doctors in Malaysia. Subjects were randomly sampled from the country’s Medical Registry. Results: Female and non-Bumiputera doctors were three times and the doctors whose tenure was brief were four times more likely to leave the service (both p<0.05). Respondents left because of dissatisfaction with benefits, pay, rewards, promotion, work operations, family commitments and personal issues.  Conclusion: Migration of doctors can be curbed by improving pay, career advancement opportunities, workload, family-friendly policies and non-monetary incentives. Scheduled job satisfaction surveys and exit interviews for doctors could detect job dissatisfaction for timely remedial actions. Keywords: job dissatisfaction, migration, public service