KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is seeking approval to extend the contracts of 1,820 public healthcare workers beginning this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
The ministry said this involves 600 assistant medical officers, 437 assistant environmental health officers and 783 personnel from other service schemes.
It added that the application for approval was submitted in December.
"The status of their contract extension will be announced at a later date through their respective department heads once the ministry receives approval from federal agencies," it said in a parliamentary written reply on Thursday (Jan 22).
The ministry said it is also obligated to employ paramedics from graduates of its training institutes.
These graduates, the ministry said, are bound by agreements to serve the government upon completing their training.
As of Sept 30 last year, the ministry said, 2,222 Health and Medical Science Diploma students were being trained for assistant medical officer positions, and 754 Environmental Health Diploma students for assistant environmental health officer roles in public healthcare facilities.
Bakri Jamaluddin (PN-Tangga Batu) wanted to know the permanent employment status for assistant medical officers and assistant environmental health officers whose contracts are set to end this year.
