KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Nurses are the biggest group of health care professionals resigning from the government health service for work abroad, according to Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Dzulkefly told Senator Ros Suryati Alang that from 2020 to 2024, a total of 440 health care workers from the Ministry of Health (MOH) emigrated overseas, comprising 381 nurses (87 per cent), 54 medical officers (12 per cent), and five specialist doctors (1 per cent).
“The main factor driving migration abroad is competitive salary offers, influenced by higher foreign exchange rates against the ringgit, especially in developed or high-income countries,” said Dzulkefly in a written Dewan Negara reply on September 2.
“At present, the salaries and incentives offered by the government to public service staff, including MOH health workers, are in line with the country’s current income level and fiscal position.”
The health minister said from 2020 to 2024, the MOH appointed 8,121 nurses and 13,349 contract medical officers, besides gazetting 4,776 specialist doctors.
He also listed several allowances for specialists, besides a post-basic allowance of RM100 monthly for nurses.
Civil servants, including health care workers, received a salary raise of 8 per cent on December 1, 2024, and are scheduled for another 7 per cent raise on January 1, 2026, added Dzulkefly.
According to Public Service Department (JPA) data presented to the Health parliamentary special select committee (PSSC), the MOH had a whopping 54,000 over vacancies as of December 31, 2024.
Among MOH’s five main service schemes, nurses formed the biggest proportion of vacancies at 14,731, followed by 11,776 medical officer vacancies.
Even as health worker wages are limited by Malaysia’s “income level and fiscal position”, Members of Parliament can earn an income of up to RM40,000 per month, including a fixed allowance of RM25,700.
A monthly income of RM40,000 for MPs is over 2,200 per cent higher than the country’s RM1,700 minimum wage.
The MOH’s Human Resource Division (BSM) told the Health PSSC last February that the government sought to limit an on-call allowance raise of RM55 to RM65 for doctors to the now-axed Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) pilot project to reduce financial implications from RM80 million to RM20 million a year.
