KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 157,285 medical staff served at Health Ministry facilities nationwide as of March 31 this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said this comprised 38,955 medical officers; 69,890 nurses, 19,885 assistant medical officers; 12,899 pharmacists; 8,635 specialists and 7,021 dental officers.
Of the total, 135,108 were employed as permanent staff while the remaining 22,195 were on contract.
Dzulkefly said the ministry and federal agencies are also conducting an intake of 27,724 medical officers, nurses, assistant medical officers, pharmacists, specialists and dental officers, in stages.
“We are committed to continue filling the various service scheme positions at Health Ministry facilities nationwide,” he said in a written reply on Tuesday (July 29).
According to him, among the measures taken by the ministry includes offering medical officers opportunities to pursue postgraduate studies through both the master’s and parallel pathway programmes.
Doctors, dentists and pharmacists are also appointed on contract and later absorbed into permanent roles when vacancies arise.
Recruitment for nurses, assistant medical officers and other paramedics are meanwhile carried out through pre-service training at the ministry’s own training institutes, as well as from graduates of public and private nursing diploma programmes.
He was responding to a question by Zahari Kechik (IND-Jeli) who asked about the number of healthcare workers currently in service on either permanent or contact basis.
He also asked about their ratio to the population.
To this, Dzulkefly said there is currently one doctor, including specialist, for every 46 people; one dental officer for every 2,343 people; one pharmacist for every 1,626 people: one nurse for every 282 people and one assistant medical officer for every 1,326 people.
