KUALA LUMPUR: Over 270,000 employees are serving at government health facilities nationwide, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
The total workforce of 272,237 represents about 90% of the ministry's manpower needs as of June 30, he added.
"Of this total, 68,286 are nurses and 33,898 medical officers, comprising 8,451 specialist and 25,447 non-specialist doctors.
"As of now, the hiring rate at health facilities nationwide is 90.1%," he said in a parliamentary written reply to Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (BN-Kuala Pilah) on Tuesday (Oct 14).
The remaining vacancies and any additional staff requirements were filled through employment contracts involving 29,971 personnel, he added.
Dzulkefly said the ministry is aware of the issue of a doctor shortage, caused by several factors.
These include manpower demand differing from projections, as well as matters beyond the ministry's control, he added.
To overcome this, Dzulkefly said the ministry is looking at ways to swiftly address shortages, particularly those affecting government hospitals.
These include the amendments to the Medical Act 1971 last year on the recognition of specialist doctors through parallel pathway programmes.
"We have also filled vacancies immediately in phases involving the appointment of 4,352 permanent medical officers.
"They began reporting for duty as early as Oct 2 to ministry health facilities nationwide, with the entire process to be completed by the end of this month," he said.
He added that the ministry is also actively engaging with private and public institutions of higher education to provide conditional offers to medical graduates wishing to serve in the public health sector.
