ARAU, Sept 19 — The Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) is in need of more permanent personnel to handle its ever-increasing and challenging scope of duty following the Covid-19 pandemic.

APM chief commissioner Datuk Roslan Wahab said the increased workload meant it had to deploy personnel from its headquarters and training centres to assist those on field duty at places like Covid-19 quarantine centres in every district as their scope of duty no longer revolved around rescue operations only.

"Under the present situation, the APM needs to double the number of its permanent personnel to at least 3,000 nationwide,” he told reporters here today.

Roslan said that APM now needs four to five permanent personnel for each district compared to just one before the pandemic began.

Earlier, the Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail officiated the 11th national-level Commissioning Ceremony of Student Civil Defence Corps at UniMAP here. Also present was the Raja Puan Muda of Perlis Tuanku Hajah Lailatul Shahreen Akashah Khalil. — Bernama