Health Ministry to open up 10,000 nursing positions

The Star

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 8 — The Health Ministry has requested for 10,000 nursing positions to be opened up nationwide.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said today the ministry has already submitted this request to the Public Service Department.
“We are not short of nurses but we want to get more nurses back in the health industry and we need to build up our nursing staff due to the increase in patient intake at public hospitals,” he said.
There are 3,000 clinics and 140 hospitals under the ministry.
Dr Hilmi said each year about 1,600 nurses graduates nationwide.
“Nurses have to continuously practice their skills by staying in the industry or they may get out of touch, that’s why we are opening up more positions to get nursing graduates who are not in the industry to come back,” he said.
As for doctors, generally, the country has sufficient doctors as local universities produce about 3,700 medical graduates each year.
“Once they complete their housemanship, they will be absorbed into public hospitals,” Dr Hilmi said at his Hari Raya open house here.
Despite not being given a choice on posting location, he said many doctors resisted being posted to east Malaysia so there is a shortage of doctors there.
“Those who are from west Malaysia don’t want to be posted to east Malaysia even though there is a special allowance while those who are from there want to come to west Malaysia because of the allowance,” he said.
On an unrelated matter, the ministry is starting a MySihat initiative in co-operation with health-related non-governmental organisations.
“Diseases like diabetes are on the rise so we need to start this initiative to encourage a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
In line with that initiative, Dr Hilmi distributed Hari Raya healthy eating booklets with recipes at his open house.