KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The Johor state health department (JKNJ) has mobilised contract medical officers (MOs) for several hospitals in the state, amid a dire shortage in its state hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru Hospital (HSAJB).
JKNJ said it has implemented phased improvement measures, including optimising patient flow processes, realigning clinical duty assignments, as well as continuous collaboration with relevant parties to strengthen health care service delivery.
“In addition, JKN Johor has also mobilised contract medical officers to address shortages of medical personnel in several hospitals in the state of Johor,” JKNJ said in a statement Sunday.
“As is generally known, HSAJB is the main referral hospital in the Southern Region, receiving a high volume of patients. This situation certainly poses challenges in terms of managing clinical services and patient flow, especially in the Emergency & Trauma Department (ED) and the medical wards.
“Nevertheless, JKN Johor wishes to emphasise that patient safety remains the top priority. Medical teams will continue to carry out their responsibilities with full professionalism despite facing a heavy workload.”
In a letter to CodeBlue last January 6, a group of HSAJB MOs complained about how doctors, particularly in the emergency and medical departments, were “overworked, understaffed, overwhelmed”.
The CodeBlue article, which was picked up by the New Straits Times, noted that two MOs manage 80 ED patients a day, while medical wards function with two to three MOs for 36 beds, even as the tertiary centre receives nearly 500 admissions weekly.
HSAJB has been routinely diverting mostly Green Zone (non-critical), and sometimes Yellow Zone (semi-critical) cases, from its emergency unit since July 2025 due to rising patient loads, based on near daily notices posted on its Facebook page on the specific hours of these diversions to nearby health care facilities.
Yellow Zone diversions increased in frequency from four days last November to 10 days in December. On December 29, HSAJB’s emergency department diverted Yellow Zone cases for 13 hours from 8am to 9pm.
This month, Yellow Zone diversions occurred on four days, including yesterday (4pm to 9pm). Today, HSAJB posted a notice on Green Zone diversions from 8am to 6pm.
