PETALING JAYA: While there are vacancies in Sabah and Sarawak, the placements for healthcare workers for permanent positions in Peninsula Malaysia have been fully taken up, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
The Health Minister said in a statement Friday (June 23) that there were vacancies in Sabah and Sarawak which were not chosen, hence the posts will be offered to reserve candidates.
“During the hiring for permanent positions this time, the ministry received more than 1,000 appeals from officers to let them remain in their current placements,” she said.
Among the reasons given for the appeal were health issues faced by the officer or their family members, refusal to serve in Sabah, Sarawak or Labuan, having to live at a distance from their spouse and wanting to start their specialist training.
“The hiring for permanent placement will lead to contract healthcare workers having to fill in vacancies according to the employment warrant enforced,” she said.
The Star reported on June 18 that northern Sarawak hospitals such as the Limbang and Miri Hospitals were facing a shortage of medical officers, where the number of MOs at these hospitals were at half of their capacity.
On that note, Dr Zaliha said there is a temporary shortage of officers expected at the ministry’s facilities.
To address this, she said the ministry will deploy those who have completed their housemanship to facilities in need in phases from July onwards.
There will be a total of 3,226 medical officers who have completed their housemanship and mandatory services between June and December.
“A total of 675 medical officers will be allocated from July 2023, followed by 1,150 in August 2023. The following (allocation) will be done once the officers complete their training and mandatory service,” she said.
Dr Zaliha said that of the 4,914 vacancies, of which 4,263 were for medical officers (4263), dentists (335) and pharmacists (316) in 2023, 4,907 had accepted the offer for permanent placement while seven rejected it.
The placements were selected via the eDentist, eHousemen and ePharmacist platforms. The fifth phase of the selection ended on June 24.
A total of 3,405 medical officers, 330 dentists and 308 pharmacists have chosen their placements at the end of the fourth phase of selection.
Five dentists, eight pharmacists did not complete the placement process within the deadline.
