KUALA LUMPUR: With more hospital projects planned, the Health Ministry needs over 43,000 nurses to serve the government.
"Based on our projection for this year, we need 43,243 nurses to help with the healthcare delivery system," said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
"However, this will depend on the decision of federal agencies," he told the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (March 3).
He said the ministry has started seeing results in efforts to train more nurses, despite disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"However, that is not enough, as we face new challenges with hospitals like Petra Jaya in Sarawak, the Sabah Heart Centre, and other new projects such as Hospital Sultanah Aminah 2," he said.
Lukanisman acknowledged that issues related to nurses' welfare must be addressed.
The government, he said, is also looking at how perks and allowances for healthcare workers can be improved.
As of December 31, 2024, he said, there were 70,229 nurses under the Health Ministry, with 69,114 in permanent service and 821 under contract.
He said 88% of the 79,814 vacancies for nurses have been filled.
"Based on the Ministry of Health records, a total of 582 nurses resigned in 2024. Reasons for resignation included offers from the private sector, placement issues, following their spouse, shift hours, health problems, and personal problems," he said.
The ministry, he said, is committed to increasing the number of nurses to ensure continuity of healthcare services.
He said the intake for nursing diploma graduates is conducted in phases, with the number of trainee nurses increased from 1,000 to 2,000.
With the Higher Education Ministry ending the moratorium on nursing diploma programmes on August 1, 2024, seven colleges have applied to offer new nursing diploma programmes.
The ministry has also applied for more vacancies and revised the prerequisites for SPM leavers to pursue a nursing diploma.
A nursing diploma programme requires three credits in SPM for Bahasa Malaysia, Mathematics or Additional Mathematics, a credit in Science subjects and English, and a credit in other subjects.
He was responding to a question by Suhaizan Kaiat (Pakatan-Pulai) on the number of nurses who have resigned from the Ministry and their reasons. Suhaizan also asked for the number of nurses required for old and new health facilities.
