Govt To Woo Non Malays To Nursing Profession

PENANG, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- The government is taking steps to correct the racial imbalance in the nursing profession by enticing more Chinese and Indians to take up nursing for they made up less than 10 per cent of the workforce, said Health Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
He attributed the racial imbalance in the profession to trends in the civil service, with Malays accounting for 80 per cent of the workforce while the balance contributed by other races, including from Sabah and Sarawak.
He said the responsibility of maintaining the security of the country and manning the essential services ought to be shouldered by all races.
"In the health sector, all races have to share the responsibilities especially for security reason such as during festivals when nurses are supposed to celebrate the occasions with their families. If disasters struck we will be in trouble," he said.
A balanced racial composition in the nursing profession will ease the work load, solve communication problems with patients and create a multicultural working environment, he told reporters after opening the 41st Peninsular Malaysia Nursing Instructors Association annual general meeting here Friday.
To address the problems, he said the Health Ministry had taken steps by improving the training quality at nursing colleges and improved the salary scheme for nurses.
He said a nursing diploma graduate who completed a three-year course can now earn up to RM1,500 a month.
"The move is to attract more school leavers to join the profession which now provides a career development path for nurses to climb the ladder up to the post of hospital directors," he said.
He said the ministry had organised roadshows with the assistance of non government organisations and political parties to promote the nursing career.
With 60,000 nurses in the country, he said, the ratio of nurses to the population was one nurse for every 600 people (1:600).
He said by 2020, the ratio would be narrowed to one nurse for every 200 people (1:200).
Lee said although the shortage of nurses was not critical, it had to be beefed up due to prevailing factors and the population increase.
On nursing instructors, he said so far 430 lecturers were teaching at 18 nursing colleges in the country with a ratio of one instructor for every 20 students (1:20).