5 Years Maternity Leave

From The Star :

" KUALA LUMPUR: Women civil servants can now opt to take a total of five years' unpaid leave to look after their children.

“The current leave is 90 days (for each child) but some may decide that their priority in life is to take care of the children, so this will allow them (to do so),” he said.

While it is generally viewed as a nice gesture, several people interviewed were cautious about the move, saying that it might not be practical to leave work for longer than needed.

At present, women civil servants can take maternity leave of 60 days with full pay five times during their tenure of employment.

“The leave can be broken up, which means they can take one or two years for the first child, and another one or two years for the next child, but not exceeding five years,” Najib said. "

After the 60 days, they can opt for 90 days' unpaid leave to look after their child. "

Doc's Comment : If you have worked in a government hospital, you will see that 70% of the nurses are pregnant. As it is all of them are taking 3 months leave and numerous MCs before delivery for "tak larat" morning sickness etc. Now that you can take 5 years leave, who is left to do the work? How about training? After 5 years do you think that you will remember how to work or do procedures? Sadly this is going to be a big mistake which will be obvious soon. Imagine a specialist or MO going on 5 years leave...