KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — The Health Ministry will allocate 35 permanent staff nurses and other staff, including medical assistants, to the Johor Health Department in an effort to address the urgent issue of staff shortage for its health facilities in the state.
The staff allocation will also include various contract posts that are waiting to be confirmed.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said this immediate solution was implemented by the Health Ministry in collaboration with the central agency.
“The Health Ministry is always committed to addressing the issue of health workers shortages at its facilities to ensure that the placement of health workers including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others meet the current needs of a facility.
“Data updating and mapping is carried out to ensure that there is no misdistribution of staff, and it can even identify the optimal needs and requirements of operations in any hospital or health clinic,” said Dr Zaliha in a statement issued today.
The Sekijang MP said the immediate allocation of additional medical staff was in response to the issue of a lack of medical assets and staff at two main hospitals under the ministry in Johor Baru.
Recently, Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi made a surprise visit to the Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI) and the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Baru where he addressed the issue of the closure of wards and operating rooms due to the lack of medical officers and nurses.
In a related development, Dr Zaliha said the Health Ministry has also approved a special allocation of RM771,600 for the purchase of medical and non-medical assets to enable the two wards to open immediately, including bed sets, Defib With Pacing, Basic Dinamp, Vital Sign 4 Channel, ECG Machine, Portable X-Ray Viewer and others.
“In addition, an operating expenditure allocation warrant of RM634,916 has also been sent to the Johor Health Department for the acquisition of non-medical assets to meet the urgent needs of both HSI and HSA in Johor Baru,” she said.
Dr Zaliha said the Health Ministry is grateful for the concern of all parties in ensuring that the best health services are provided to the people.
She said such efforts with a “whole of government and whole of society approach” are among the important points outlined in the White Paper on Health that will be presented in Parliament tomorrow.
“This is to guarantee equality and access to services for more sustainable health and for the foreseeable future,” said Dr Zaliha.
On June 1, it was reported that Onn Hafiz highlighted the issue of healthcare personnel shortage in Johor, saying that it must be effectively addressed to improve the quality of public health services.
He said the shortage of 2,800 healthcare professionals, including 680 nurses, had resulted in the overcrowding of patients at hospitals and health clinics.
Onn Hafiz called on the Health Ministry to urgently expedite the process of addressing the shortage for both HSI and HSA.
