KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,856 medical officers and 1,754 nurses have resigned from public hospitals from 2020 to last year, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
However, during the same period, the Health Minister said the ministry appointed 13,349 medical officers and 8,121 staff nurses in public hospitals during the same period.
“The Health Ministry is aware of the need to increase healthcare officers in tandem with patient arrivals at our facilities,” said Dr Dzulkefly in Parliament on Monday (Aug 18).
Therefore, to ensure healthcare facilities are adequately staffed, Dr Dzulkefly said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made a special announcement to hire more government doctors this year.
According to Dr Dzulkefly, a total of 13,552 contract medical officers were offered full time positions from 2023 till now, exceeding the government’s target of 12,800 medical officers in the same period.
“This is an average of 4,000 medical officers appointed each year,” he added.
Dr Dzulkefly also said the quota of trainee nurses has also been increased from 1,000 spots to 3,000.
“This is a three-fold increase,” he added.
Meanwhile, to address the shortage of staff in Sabah and Sarawak, Dr Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry allocated 960 spots to hire permanent medical officers.
Dr Dzulkefly was responding to Wong Shu Qi (PH-Kluang), who asked about the number of doctors and nurses who resigned from 2020 till June 30 this year.
She had also asked about the amount of new doctors and nurses hired during the same period.
