KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Sarawak faces a shortage of 1,226 nurses, 931 medical officers, and 263 specialist doctors, among other health care workers in the public sector.
Based on Ministry of Health (MOH) data as of last June 30, although the nursing scheme had the highest number of vacancies, vacancy rates by percentage were the highest for medical officers at 30 per cent, followed by specialists (28 per cent), nurses (15 per cent), assistant medical officers [AMOs] (8 per cent), and pharmacy officers (8 per cent).
A total of 575 contract medical officers currently serve in Sarawak, which would still fall short of filling the 931 vacancies even if all of them accepted offers for permanent positions.
Sarawak reported a 43 per cent no-show rate among medical officers for permanent positions last year.
There are no contract nurses currently serving in Sarawak.
As for specialist doctors, only three are on contract, which would barely fill the 263 vacancies in the state.
As of June 30, MOH recorded 193 vacancies for AMOs and 74 for pharmacy officers in Sarawak.
A total of 273 AMOs are serving on contract, while 163 pharmacists are on contract, exceeding the number of vacancies for permanent positions.
Across the five main service schemes, 2,687 vacancies were reported out of 15,312 positions, translating to an 18 per cent vacancy rate.
Sarawak’s overall health workforce in the public sector, beyond the five main service schemes, had 5,774 vacancies in 31,409 positions, or an 18 per cent vacancy rate as of June 30. There are 1,908 health care workers on contract.
“To ensure that the delivery of health care services is not affected, MOH will continue to implement various initiatives to fill vacant positions on an ongoing basis,” said Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, who provided the data, in a written Dewan Negara reply to Senator Pele Peter Tinggom.
“These include conducting new recruitment exercises, making permanent and contract appointments according to service needs, and strategically deploying health care personnel based on the priorities and requirements of health care facilities nationwide, including in the state of Sarawak.”
