KUALA LUMPUR: The country's healthcare system would need an estimated 113,472 nurses by 2025, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister K. Saraswathy, answering on behalf of the Health Ministry, said the amount had taken into account the needs of new facilities and upgrades.
It also includes projections for attrition, such as nurses who have left the profession.
To ensure sufficient number of nurses, she said the Health Ministry had introduced various initiatives, including employing trainee nurses whose diplomas were sponsored by the ministry.
"The Health Ministry is working together with the Higher Education Minister to end the freeze on new private nursing colleges to increase the number of local nurses."
She said this in response to a question by Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Perikatan Nasional-Masjid Tanah), who had asked if there were enough nurses in both the public and private healthcare systems in the country.
She also said the applications to create additional nursing positions were being done in phases.
There are 114,922 nurses in Malaysia as of Aug 31, with 78,118 in the public healthcare sector and 36,804 in the private sector.
Saraswathy said 70,225 of them were serving under the Health Ministry, and from the total, 397 were contract staff.
"They (contract staff) are in the process of being permanently hired by December this year, subject to the Public Services Department.