PETALING JAYA: The government must resolve the shortage of medical personnel in the public healthcare sector, especially with the situation approaching “breaking point”, says a health think tank.
The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy proposed that Putrajaya form a multi-sector task force to come up with long-term solutions to resolve the issue, but also recruit healthcare workers from abroad in the meantime.
“Our healthcare professionals including doctors, specialists, nurses and medical assistants, are underpaid, overworked, overstretched, and working in facilities which are increasingly congested with patients.
“They are facing extremely difficult workplace conditions, some of which are at breaking point,” Galen CEO Azrul Khalib said in a statement.
Azrul pointed out that the shortage of medical staff had also negatively impacted the efficiency of emergency and trauma wards in hospitals.
“Many of the recently proposed solutions to the congestion in emergency and trauma departments are seen as stop-gap measures.
“Most have already been tried, tested and at times failed because they depend on having sufficient manpower,” he said.
He added that the government must prioritise the forming of a task force comprising the health, human resources, and higher education ministries along with the public services department (JPA) and other government agencies to formulate a national health workforce strategy.
Azrul also urged the task force to listen to healthcare workers in order to produce a viable long-term plan to resolve recruitment and staff retention.
“However, these measures alone may not suffice and it will also take time to come into effect.
“Hence, the government will need to consider the recruitment of healthcare staff from overseas to fill the immediate needs, especially in areas of specialised care,” he said.
Azrul stressed that the revised Budget 2023, which is scheduled to be tabled on Feb 24, must also increase the allocation for the health ministry as it would prove the government’s commitment to invest in the healthcare sector.
