Monday, April 26, 2010

Salaries For HOSPITAL Doctors working in Brunei (Locals and Expatriate)



I think this is the most popular questions posed to us, i.e. what's the salary like working in Brunei and what are the qualifications required? We have posted this information several months back, so this is a repeat... with some added information below..

N.B. This information is valid for Hospital Doctors only. GPs, Public Health and Dentist may have a different entry requirement and allowances.

The figure above summarizes the the current salaries of Hospital doctors working in Brunei. The basic pay is the same for locals and expatriate (foreign) doctors, the major difference however is that expatriate doctors gets other additional perks like:
  • $800/month of each child going to private schools
  • A gratuity which amounts up to 25% of 3 years cummulative basic pay salary which can be claimed at the end of their 3 year contract service (can be up to $30,000 - 61,200 depending on grade)
  • Free health care
  • Heavily subsidised (Almost free) Housing
NEW UPCOMING CHANGES

Currently the salaries are being revised and will undergo some big changes in the figures. The clinicians have been working very hard in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and with a strong support from our Minister, a proposal have been met by the Public Service Commision & the Salary Committee. Insyallah, gods' will the new salary scheme will be rolled out once approval have been met.

BDMC is very optimistic that this will happen in the near future.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

An Overview of On Calls Allowance in Brunei

Introduction:
The payment of On Call Allowance Claims which has been approved since 1 March 2009 has been implemented since March 2010 with a special budget being allocated. This instrumental change to the welfare of the doctors has been brought about thanks to the initial efforts made by our senior doctors who have been working very hard to get this allowance approved eversince 4-5 yrs ago. Some of them have already left the service but others are still around. To mention a few are Dr Hj Affendy (ex-DGMS), Dr Rashid (Orthopaedic specialists), Dr Syafiq & Dr Zulkarnain. Their groundworks has laid a strong foundation for the proposal to be revived again in 2008 by Dato Paduka Dr Hj Latif (former president of Brunei Medical Association) and his team and finally the proposal for on call allowance was approved by JPA in March 2009.

The principle of On call Allowance
From a banding system of on call allowance (initial proposal) based on the UK system, the proposal has undergone various changes and eventually it was decided that the on call allowance should be based on 'monthly claims' method using the Singapore system. Whatever system it is, the principles of awarding on call is the same, doctors who work 'extra-hours' and whose daily lives (personal & professional) are affected by it should receive an allowance.

Using this very principle of awarding on calls, the JPA has come up with a definition of On call. On Call by definition is A Doctor who has been rostered to work outside his/her normal working hours to treat patients in the hospital. From this definition, JPA has decided that on call can only be given to the doctors working in hospitals on full shift system (24hrs). Thus those working on shift system (A&E), GPs, Public Health & Dentist cannot claim for on call allowance.

The respective Administrative & Finance Department of each Hospitals in the country has been tasked to manage the claims of 200+ doctors through out the nation, except for the Renal Doctors whose claims are directly manage by the Administrative Dept at the Ministry of Health.


The rates and types of oncall:

There are 3 types of on-call allowances, Resident On-Call, Non-Resident On-Call and Consultant On-Call.

1) Resident On-Call are given to those who stay in-hospital during the 24hr On-call period, mainly Medics, Surgeons, Orthopods, Anaesthetist, Renal, Gynae, Paeds, ICU and recently ENT has also been approved to do Resident Calls. The rate depends on their grade whether it's Medical officer or Senior Medical Officer.
M.O. - $11/hr
SMO - $14/hr

2) Non-resident On-call are given to those who are on-call from home. e.g. OMFs, ENTs, Opthalmology, Neurosurgeons. These doctors will have to claim the hours they come to hospital only and attend patients. Calls taken from home are not counted apparently. The rates are similar to the above. Non-residents On Call also refers to the 2nd Oncall (usuall SMO) who are not resident.

3) Consultants/Specialists Oncall are given only to specialist who has been given a permenant post. Its fixed amount of $1,250/mth. However If you are Acting Specialist, you will only be entitled SMO rate and you get paid only when you come to hospital.


Problems encountered:


Unfortunately there has been some significant delay in the payment of on call allowance due to various factors:

1. The method of claiming the on call was not finalized until sometime early 2010, this was mainly because
  • There was issues raised by the administration about how to 'audit' the claims of doctors
  • Admin weren't sure how much the budget needed to be allocated, because this is the first time, on call allowances were claimable.
  • Who are entitled to claim? Resident and Non-Resident
2. After the above issues were addressed the administration has come up with various forms that required to be filled in, but again there were delays in processing these forms due to several factors:
  • The forms were issued without any guideline as to how to fill them correctly, therefore it has lead to many forms being returned back due to incorrect information provided.
  • Initially the dateline given to issue all claims was less than 2 weeks, but due to the large volume of claims dating back to March 2009, Hospital Finance Dept (Tafis) was overwhelmed.
As a result of these teething problems, some claims are still outstanding, but to those who have received their on call allowances, please don't forget to give 2% to Brunei Medical Association (The force behind all this).

Conclusion

The rough estimate of monthly resident on call INCOME
M.O. ~ $3,400 - 4,000 (Basic Pay) + $800 - 1,200 (On call 1 in 5) = $4,200 - 5,200
S.M.O. ~ $5,400 - 5,900 (Basic Pay) + $1,100 - 1400 (On call 1 in 5) = $6,500 - 7,300
Specialist $6,800 - 8,000 + 1,250 (Basic pay & M allowance) + $1,250 = $9,350 - 10,050

  • Don't abuse this previlage. It can be revoked at any time.
  • The idea behind those who have relentlessly fought behind the scene to get the on call allowance was to lend appreciation the unsociable and high health risk career medicine & surgery is. At risk of becoming the most unpopular career choice for bright students, the authorities have taken initiative to revive this career by giving an incentive. We hope this will serve as an initial stimulus to entice more people to join medicine as a career.
  • Don't forget that we are still fighting to get on-calls for our colleagues at the Accident & Emergency Department.
  • The revision of salary scheme (Scheme of Service) is well underway. Details of the new scheme are still unofficial, but as soon as it's official it will be shared here.

Guidelines for claiming On Call Allowances - for doctors only



This guideline has been drafted by Dr Munir (Internal Medicine, RIPAS) and approved by DGMS office. For any further queries please contact him on his e-mail


DOCTORS GUIDELINES FOR CLAIMING ON CALL ALLOWANCES

In reference to the memorandum dated 5th of May 2009 (KK/JPK/S/96/04/A J.2) which attached a letter from the Director General of Public Service Department (JPA/R/JTG/KSN/1/8/6 (462)), “on-call” allowance will be approved for MO, SMO, Specialists working for Ministry of Health except Dental doctors, Public Health and A&E effective from the 1st of March 2009.

These are the Amendments and Guidelines for claiming on-call allowance:

General Information and Amendments:

  1. On-call time is taken as the time the on-call doctor arrives in the Hospital grounds
  2. On-call time for Resident on-calls are 0745-0800 for weekdays, and 0800-0800 for weekends and public holidays
  3. On-call time for Non-Resident on-calls are 1630-0800 for weekdays, and 0800-0800 for weekends and public holidays
  4. Non-Resident on-call doctors will be able to claim 'extended' on-call time (after 0800 endtime) for Weekend or Public Holiday
  5. All claims are accumulative for the whole month
  6. There is no 'minimal time' or 'minimal claim'
  7. Total time to the nearest minute will be claimable
Guidelines for Claims:

1. Applying for approval
  • All claiming doctors must first apply for on-call allowance by submitting the EOC 09 FORM
  • Forms are available from your Departmental clerks or CEO Office
  • Accepted on-call applications will be given a unique Reference number which need to be quoted for each claim
  • All applications must include:
  1. Completed EOC 09 FORMS
  2. Copy of Identity Card
  3. Copy of latest payment slip
  4. Copy of appointment letter

2. Filling in Attendance books
  • Attendance books must be filled in with the EXACT time of entry and exit
  • Attendance books will be placed in ALL wards, ICU, Radiology, OT and A&E
  • Attendance books shall be placed in a conspicuous and easily seen area of the ward/facility
  • Resident on-call doctors need only to sign the 'time in' of the first ward/facility they enter at the start of the on-call and 'time-out of the last ward/facility they leave (example 1, eg. for weekday 0745-0800 and example 2, eg. for weekend and public holiday 0800-0800)
  • Non-Resident on-call doctor need to sign 'time in' and 'time out' of every ward/facility they enter for the on-call (example 3, eg. for weekday 1630-0800 and example 4, eg. for weekend and public holiday 0800-0800)

3. Filling in Logbooks
  • Logbooks must be filled in with the EXACT time of entry and exit
  • Logbooks must be verified by end of on-call day
  • It can either be 'witnessed' by staff nurses or Allied health care professional or Specialist on-call
  • Where logbooks cannot be 'witnessed', it can also be 'verified' by the Specialist on-call at the end of the on-call day
  • Logbooks can also be verified retrospectively after 24 hours with the discretion of the respective Specialist on-call or Head of Department
  • Resident on-call doctors need only to fill in entry and exit time and general ward/facility where they will be working (example 5, eg. for weekday 0745-0800 and example 6, eg. for weekend and public holiday 0800-0800)
  • Non-Resident on-call doctor need only to fill in entry and exit time of each on-call, any breakdown of wards visited must be written clearly in the 'Place of Duty' column (example 7, e.g. reviewing 2 patients in ward 21 and ICU respectively, example 8, eg. joining on-call team for wardround to more than one ward such as ward 19 followed by ward 21 and CCU and example 9, eg. staying after 0800 end-time for weekend or public holiday)

4. Filling in BT EOC 09 Claim Forms
  • All Claim Forms must be filled with identical entries from your logbooks
  • Each doctor's unique 'Reference number' must be quoted in each Claim Form
  • Claims should be written in chronological order
  • All claims are accumulative for the whole month
  • There is no 'minimal time' or 'minimal claim'
  • Total time to the nearest minute will be claimable

5. Claiming process
  • Please submit only 1 copy of completed BT EOC 09 Claim Forms2. Please include your original logbook and a copy of a finalized rota for the respective month
  • Please submit all Claim Forms by the 14th of each following month
  • All claim forms should be submitted to respective departmental clerks