Public healthcare sector needs over 113,000 nurses by 2025, Dewan hears

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 113,472 nurses are estimated to be needed in the public healthcare sector by 2025, says K. Saraswathy.

Answering on behalf of the Health Ministry, the Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister said this number takes into consideration the need for nurses in new healthcare facilities as well as nurses who left the profession.

"To ensure a sufficient number of nurses, the Health Ministry has taken various initiatives such as employing trainee nurses whose diplomas are sponsored by the Health Ministry. Their numbers will be increased from 1,000 to 2,000," she told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Oct 26).

The Health Ministry, she said, was also working with the Higher Education Ministry to lift the moratorium on the freezing of new private nursing colleges.

"This will allow an increasing number of local nurses," she said.

Applications to create additional nursing positions were being done in phases, she said.

As of Aug 31 this year, Saraswathy said there were 114,922 nurses in Malaysia.

Some 78,118 in the public healthcare sector and 36,804 in the private sector.

Of the number in the public sector, she said 70,225 served in the Health Ministry with 69,828 being permanent appointments and the remainder contract staff.

"The contract staff are also in the process of being permanently hired by December this year. This is subject to the Public Services Department," she said.

Saraswathy was responding to a question by Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah) who asked whether there were sufficient nurses in the national healthcare system for the government and private sector.

Mas Ermieyati also asked a supplementary question on the government’s plans to uplift the nursing profession and ensure it was more appreciated.

"People today see the nursing profession as 'second class' who supposedly only take notes from doctors and are not seen highly by the public. There is also the issue of training local nurses and giving them employment yet they go abroad," she said.

As both Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa and her deputy Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni were not present in the lower House on Thursday, Saraswathy said a written reply would be given.