KOTA KINABALU – A total of 175 doctors, 12 dental officers and 21 pharmacists will be reporting for duty in Sabah by October 17, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in addressing the shortage of health workers in the state.
He added that 168 nurse vacancies in the state will be filled from December onwards.
He also expressed hope that the state government will provide sponsorships for Sabahans to pursue medicine to address the shortage of doctors and specialists in the state.
We know we have a problem if we post doctors to Sabah and Sarawak, not many prefer to stay. They will want to return to their states later,” he said.
He added that there are only 9,330 Sabahans working in the main services of the Health Ministry compared to 104,818 officers nationwide.
They comprise 117 medical specialists, 807 medical officers, 11 dental specialists, 253 pharmacists and 7,080 nurses.
Khairy said this during a live video conference at the health white paper briefing here yesterday.
The Rembau MP was supposed to attend the briefing in person but his flight to Kota Kinabalu was diverted to Labuan due to bad weather.
On health reforms, Khairy unveiled his proposals to improve the public health system in the state with the aim to turn “sick care to healthcare” over the span of the 12th and 13th Malaysia Plans.
The reforms are as follows:
1. Increase the number of specialist services in Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) here, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan and Tawau Hospital to 49. At present, there are 44 specialist services at QEH, 18 in Duchess of Kent and 15 in Tawau.
2. Upgrade the Keningau and Lahad Datu hospitals from minor specialist facilities to major specialist hospitals.
3. Upgrade the Kota Marudu, Beaufort and Tuaran hospitals from non-specialist to minor specialist hospitals.
4. Add another 25 intensive care unit beds from the present 150 with an estimated spend of RM42 million.
5. Ensure all 88 operation halls are operational. Sabah currently has 61 operational operation halls, with eight not fully-equipped while 19 are not equipped and not operational.
6. Build health clinics in 14 districts, which willl include radiology, rehabilitation, dental and family health specialists.
7. Aim to have 45 Health Ministry officers from Sabah enrolled in specialty courses in 2023.
“Let’s focus on the next 15 years, (regarding) what kind of health system is relevant to Sabah and whether everyone agrees with my white paper proposal,” said Khairy.
We have constantly delayed the development of our hospitals. But what’s more important is prevention.”
Meanwhile, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said health transformation plans have been in the works for about 30 to 40 years but could not be carried out due to the lack of political will.
“If we look at the amount of investments on health, it stands at 2.5% of the gross domestic product and the country should be (spending) 6%.
“The Health Ministry however requested the amount of investment to be increased to at least 5%. The budget for the ministry is only at RM31 billion when we should get around RM55 to RM60 billion to rebuild our health system.”
Sabah is the second location where the Health Ministry has held its white paper briefing after Sarawak earlier this week.
The ministry also welcomes public input via [email protected]. – The Vibes, September 10, 2022
