KUALA LUMPUR: The placement of nurses outside their home states is one of the reasons some choose to leave serving the Health Ministry of Health (MOH), said its deputy minister Lukanisman Awang.
He said some left the service because the offer was not to their expectations.
“For example, many assume that becoming a government nurse means being stationed in their hometowns, especially those from Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah, and Sarawak.
“We are also facing a shortage of nurses in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Selangor,“ he said in response to a supplementary question from Datuk Dr Alias Razak (PN-Kuala Nerus) regarding whether it was because of the workload that many nurses left the service.
Lukanisman said the situation posed a challenge for the ministry, as nurse placements are determined based on the needs of each state.
According to Lukanisman, a total of 1,754 nurses left their service with MOH over the past five years, with 27.98 per cent of them due to personal problems.
Regarding the 14,771 vacancies at the MOH as of last Dec 31, Lukanisman said they were not posts at current facilities.
“The vacancies are at new facilities, for example, a (health) project that is 85 per cent complete, “ he said.
In response to a question by Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai) regarding the percentage of nursing positions that have been filled, Lukanisman said 88 per cent of the 79,814 posts had been filled.
As of Dec 31, a total of 70,229 nurses are serving with the ministry, with 69,114 of them as permanent staff.
He said 582 nurses quit their job last year.
