IPOH: The Health Ministry is prepared to develop a care guideline for the Public Service Department, which estimates that over 55,000 civil servants are at risk of mental health challenges.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the ministry could provide technical input and expert insights through its mental health specialists to support the initiative.
“We feel compelled to do so as the Health Ministry is ultimately the custodian of health. As you know, there is no health without mental health,” he told reporters after launching the National-level 2026 World Suicide Prevention Day at Poly-Tech Mara College here today. (Sept 28)
Dzulkefly said the ministry will use its expertise in mental health management to support the department’s efforts, whose director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said last Monday that some 55,169 civil servants have been identified as being at high risk of poor mental wellbeing.
Referencing the Digital Psychological Health Profiling System, Wan Ahmad said the figures also comprised civil servants who were at risk of taking their own lives.
Dzulkelfy said the department could opt to use the ministry’s existing guideline and index or enlist his ministry’s assistance to develop its own.
“Although we already have guidelines, if the department wants to develop its own guidelines to address the more than 50,000 civil servants affected by or facing mental health challenges, we are ready to help them develop both the index and the guideline,” he said.
Wan Ahmad Dahlan had also said the department was currently developing mental health guidelines for the civil service as part of efforts to improve the wellbeing of its workforce.
He added that a Happiness Index for civil servants would also be introduced.
Those suffering from mental health issues or contemplating suicide can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392); Talian Kasih (15999 or 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp); Jakim’s Family, Social and Community care centre (011-1959 8214 on WhatsApp); and Befrienders Kuala Lumpur (03-7627 2929, go to www.befrienders.org.my/centre-
