Many trained Taiwanese doctors are flocking to Malaysia, attracted by better-paid positions, lower taxes and lesser workload compared with their home country, a business and finance magazine reported.
According to Business Weekly, many doctors have been working in Malaysian hospitals following the government’s recognition of medical degrees from eight major universities in Taiwan, including National Taiwan University in Taipei.
The government’s gradual liberalisation on foreign equity restriction of 17 service sub-sectors under Budget 2012, including private hospital services, had also encouraged them to work in Malaysia.
The doctors, mostly specialists aged 35-45, are attracted by a lower tax rate on income including a 15% rate for returning top global Malaysian talent, whereas the tax rate is 40% in Taiwan.
Salary packages are also more attractive these days than in Taiwan for doctors, including obstetricians and gynaecologists, paediatricians and doctors who have specialised in internal medicine.
A doctor earning between 250,000 and 300,000 New Taiwan Dollars (TWD)(between RM26,800 and RM32,150) can earn between RM80,400 and RM107,200 in Malaysia monthly.
A vice-chancellor from the Kaohsiung Medical University added that the workload in Malaysian hospitals was also much less, about one-tenth that of doctors in Taiwan.
The article also cited Regency Specialist Hospital, a private hospital in Johor, as having 17 Taiwanese trained doctors, half the total number of the physicians there.
It added TalentCorp, the government agency which attracts and retains top talent for the country, had received more than 2,500 applications from Taiwan under its Returning Expert Programme since 2011.
source:The Rakyat Post