KUCHING: Six out of 850 Sarawakian nurses working outside the state have thus far successfully transferred to serve in their home state.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said the matter of healthcare personnel placement will continue to be raised during the upcoming Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) meeting tomorrow (Aug 11).
“Even in our last meeting, we told them there are 850 Sarawakian nurses in West Malaysia who want to come back.
“We’ve submitted their names, but after six months, only six have been transferred back. That is not good,” he said.
He said this to reporters after officiating at the National Information Dissemination Centre (NADI) Batu Kawah at MJC New Township here on Saturday.
Dr Sim was asked to comment about Ministry of Health’s (MOH), which has made it mandatory for contract medical officers appointed to permanent positions to select at least one placement option in Sabah or Sarawak through the e-Placement 2.0 system, and whether such move would solve the shortage of doctors in the Sarawak in the long run.
The Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government further said that Sarawakians with the ‘K’ indicator are entitled to return and serve in their home state.
“Therefore, these are administrative matters we want listed under the (health autonomy) under MA63. This is part of our negotiations towards gaining health autonomy.
“We have received some good news, but we still need to keep track of issues like the 850 nurses wanting to return to Sarawak. So, I will bring this up in the meeting,” he said.
