MOH streamlines workforce to reduce burden on health staff

PUTRAJAYA, March 25 -- The Ministry of Health (MOH) has streamlined the workforce in government hospitals to reduce the burden on health workers in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the move was aimed at reducing the workload of staff, especially in government hospitals, as some of them had been working tirelessly for a long time.

"It is true that our frontliners have been working tirelessly for about three months, including in MOH itself. But what is important now is that we can streamline our human resources.

"This includes 3,400 in-service training staff, and we have sent them to hospitals and clinics," he said at a press conference here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the maximum working time for nurses is eight hours a day, while for doctors it is, 16 hours a day.

He added that 3,000 contract nurses and medical officers, including retirees, have also been identified to assist MOH in treating COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry hopes that the extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) till April 14 will help ‘flatten’ the COVID-19 infection curve in the country.

He said this was due to JP Morgan forecasting an increase of up to 6,000 cases this month.

“But we have implemented public activities and the MCO and we hope to detect and ensure that positive cases are isolated and treated. 

"We hope that with our actions, we can reduce the number of positive cases and it does not reach 6,000," he added.

Replying to a question on the status of Teluk Intan Hospital in Perak, Dr Noor Hisham said on the overall, the hospital is still operating as normal.

“Only the Emergency Department and its Observation Ward of the hospital are closed today for cleaning and decontamination works.

“Nonetheless, the hospital’s Emergency Department is operating at the building’s Outpatient Unit for the time being,” he said.

-- BERNAMA