Kota Kinabalu: The number of Medical Assistant positions must be increased immediately to enable hospitals and health clinics throughout Sabah to operate properly, said Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk James Ratib.
This position, he said, is very important, especially in the interior and is very critical right now and this is also to optimise the cardiac specialist services at the Sabah Heart Centre when it operates later.
James, who heads the Sabah State Health Exco, said the Ministry of Health needs to consider this matter by taking into account the importance of this hospital becoming the Sabah Heart Centre in future.
This, he said, would in turn provide comprehensive benefits to all Sabahans in receiving cardiac specialist treatment.
Medical Assistants perform complex specialist procedures, including Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE), Exercise Stress Test Echocardiogram, Pacemaker Interrogation, Advanced Haemodynamic Intracardiac Monitoring, Adjunctive Invasive Cardiovascular procedures and Electrophysiological Studies (EPS).
James, who is also Sugut Assemblyman, said this when officiating the Blood Donation Program and Launching Ceremony of the Sabah State-Level Medical Assistant Day Celebration 2025 held here, Thursday.
He added that the government had approved a new building project for the Sabah Blood Bank amounting to approximately RM86 million in the Bukit Padang area and is expected to be implemented this year.
With the construction of the building, James said, it would supply about 120,000 units of blood bags per year, compared to the current amount of 2,600 per year.
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Assistant Officer of Sabah, Ahmad Syamsul Bin Rezali said that the programme aims to fill the blood supply needs for hospitals and collect the maximum number of blood bags in a short time.
He added that the programme is also carried out as a form of appreciation to the Medical Assistants who play an important role in the state’s health service system and thus show how close they are to the community.
Therefore, he said, the Sabah community is encouraged to continue to support such programmes and come forward as regular blood donors to ensure the continuity of the blood supply in the state.
In conjunction with the Sabah State-Level Medical Assistant Day Celebration, the Sabah State Health Department Medical Assistant Officer Division in collaboration with the Sabah Medical Assistant Association organised a Blood Donation Programme at 16 different locations throughout Sabah.
The programme began on March 10, at Tawau Hospital and was inaugurated at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital and will end at Pitas Hospital on April 28.
This is to increase community awareness of the importance of donating blood regularly and also to be able to collect the maximum number of blood bags in a short time by Sabah Assistant Medical Officers.
