DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim has ordered the Ministry of Health (MOH) to simplify the bureaucratic process to expedite the filling of more than 4,000 government doctor positions, including contract medical officers.
Unity Government spokesman Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was raised by the Prime Minister in the Cabinet meeting he chaired today.
"The Prime Minister raised the issue of filling the 4,000 doctor positions that are vacant and this was conveyed today to the members of the Cabinet, especially the Minister of Health.
"The Prime Minister requested that the bureaucratic process, which may be seen as delaying, be expedited," he said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.
The Prime Minister had previously announced that more than 4,000 positions for government doctors, including contract medical officers, would be made available this year.
In a special announcement broadcast live on television, the Prime Minister stressed the urgent need for doctors in the healthcare sector.
Commenting further, Fahmi said that the Ministry of Health initially expected all the positions involved to be filled by November.
He said that the Prime Minister, however, was of the view that the period involved was too late and wanted the process of filling the positions to be expedited.
"If we follow the Prime Minister, if possible it would have been completed yesterday but there is a little process, but the Prime Minister asked that since there is an urgent need to fill 4,000 vacancies, which is not a small number, it needs to be expedited.
"The Minister of Health (Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad) has given a commitment that this process will be shortened without affecting the procedures and will be expedited (filling the positions)," he said. - July 25, 2025
