Private hospitals urge new health minister address nurses shortage
LILYANA RIZAL04 Dec 2022 10:27am
Dr Zaliha Mustafa - Bernama pic
The Association of Private Hospitals president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said the new government needs to focus on training more nurses by offering incentives for local nursing schools.
He further urged the government to take immediate steps in bringing in foreign nurses to Malaysia to assist both public and private healthcare, which are both facing a shortage of nurses.
“The acute nursing shortage in the private hospitals is unprecedented, cause delays in admitting patients and this has further burdened public hospitals as more patients are forced to seek treatment in government facilities despite affording private healthcare,” he said in a statement today.
He also touched on strengthening the public-private partnership in healthcare as seen during the peak of health pandemic where private hospitals offered government to transfer a portion of non-Covid-19 patients.
“Private hospitals have the infrastructure for screening diseases particularly non-communicable diseases and as an immediate step the health minister should consider outsourcing to public hospitals to control the increasing complications of non-communicable diseases,” he said.
He said that the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) are happy to help strengthen the public healthcare system with reasonable rates.
