KUCHING: The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) recent visit to seven hospitals across Sarawak has confirmed what the State has been highlighting for years: Sarawak’s public healthcare system is not only underpaid but also severely overworked.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said that the Human Resource Division from MOH’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur visited Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), Sarawak Heart Centre (PJS), Serian Hospital, Sibu Hospital, Kapit Hospital, Bintulu Hospital and Miri Hospital in July.
They found that these seven hospitals alone require an additional 11,127 staff, including 508 medical specialists, 1,059 medical officers, and 4,881 nurses.
“Finally, MOH from KL gets firsthand experience and confirmed what Sarawak had been requesting all these years. Not just underpaid, but overworked also,” Dr Sim said in his Facebook post.
He said the shortage of manpower has forced many Sarawakian healthcare workers to push themselves to the brink of burnout out of compassion for their patients.
“Partially our fault as Sarawakians; we are so kind, we stretch ourselves till burnout despite being understaffed, for the sake of our fellow Sarawak patients,” he said.
Dr Sim recounted that when cardiac services were relocated to the Pusat Jantung Sarawak in 2011, staff overseeing 50 beds in SGH were moved en bloc.
Despite the number of beds expanding to 167 at PJS, there was minimal increase in staffing, forcing personnel to work overtime voluntarily just to ensure patients would not have to wait long hours for beds.
Despite the challenges, Dr Sim praised Sarawak’s medical frontliners for their professionalism and dedication.
“Thank you very much to all my medical colleagues. Not just underpaid and overworked, yet still trying their very best to provide medical services to our fellow Sarawakians.
“It’s truly a miracle achievement that PJS is among the top 100 heart centres in Asia Pacific, the only one under MOH,” he said.
Dr Sim said the findings from MOH’s visit should strengthen the call for Sarawak Health Autonomy under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He thanked Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Amar Fadillah Yusof, who chairs the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Technical Committee, for calling a high-level ministers’ meeting involving all relevant ministries to address the issue.
He also urged the public to support healthcare workers in any way they can, including showing appreciation rather than criticism.
“We need a culture of giving credit where credit’s due,” he said.
Dr Sim added that Sarawak currently has 4,275 public hospital beds, and needs another 1,925 beds (an increase of 45 per cent), while the State’s 4,614 doctors must be expanded by 2,649 (54.7 per cent) to meet growing healthcare demands.
