KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) today called on the government to focus on resolving the issue of contract staff in all ministries.

Its president Adnan Mat said apart from the contract health officers in the Ministry of Health (MOH), there were tens of thousands more posts in the MOH and other ministries that were still on contract basis and were waiting to be terminated.

He said cost factor as well as financial constraints faced by the government should not hinder efforts to absorb all staff to permanent positions.

"In the MOH itself, there are other critical positions that are still on contract basis such as doctors, nurses, assistant medical officers, assistant environmental health officers, environmental health officers and others.

"Without the support of this team (contract staff), there is already an imbalance in the public health services delivery,” he said in a statement.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday that he will discuss with the Cabinet on the appeal by contract doctors to be appointed to permanent positions in the civil service.

Meanwhile, Adnan said it was understood that there were about 1,200 price monitoring officers in a ministry whose contracts would be terminated by the end of this year. — Bernama