SIBU, March 10: The Ministry of Health has been told to increase the number of nurses for Sarawak to better serve the people.
“We only have 3.16 nurses per 1,000 people according to our nurse-to-population ratio in 2020, which is below par if we compare this figure with most developed countries of 8 nurses per 1,000 people.
“We need more nurses especially in acute care, specialised care and in rural clinics,” said Deputy Chief Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian at the Sarawak Nursing Conference 2023 today.
His text of speech was read by his representative, Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng.
He added that there are 6,548 staff nurses vacancies in Sarawak but only 6,146 (93.86 per cent) have been filled. For community nurses, out of 2,875 positions, only 1,874 or 65.18 per cent have been taken up.
“There is very much a lack of promotional posts for senior nurses. When nurses here are promoted they have to be displaced from their families and transferred to Peninsular Malaysia.
“I hope that the Health Ministry can consider more senior posts for Sarawak so that they (nurses) will be able to stay in their hometown and serve in Sarawak,” he said.
The second issue involved the lack of nurses in rural areas.
He said the community nurse intake and training had stopped since 2015 but upgrading of the post to staff nurses has been delayed.
Dr Sim hoped that the ministry would increase the number of community nurses as their number constituted only 65.18 per cent of the total number of nurses in the region.
“In order to provide better healthcare services in rural areas, I hope the ministry can look into this issue,” he concluded.
A total of 422 participants took part in the one-day conference organised by Sarawak Nursing Professional Association (SNPA). — DayakDaily
