Govt to place resident specialists in Sabah hospitals, says Dzulkefly

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has announced several measures to address the shortage of specialists in Sabah hospitals. The health ministry will place resident specialists in hospitals located in towns such as Kota Marudu and Beaufort, as reported by Bernama. This move complements the ministry's initiative to rotate specialists to rural areas in Sabah.

The health ministry aims to bridge the expertise gap in Sabah within a three to five-year period by empowering the Sandakan and Tawau Clusters to match the level of expertise found in Kota Kinabalu, including cardiothoracic services. Local health ministry graduates will be absorbed permanently through autonomous employment, followed by a 15% salary adjustment for SSPA officers.

Additionally, full transfer allowances will be approved for officers changing to permanent status, and ETAP (on-call) incentives will be reviewed. The health ministry has also expanded the Hospital Services Outsourcing Programme to the private sector to tackle congestion in public hospital lobbies and wards. This expansion will cover 15 critical services, including dialysis treatment, diagnostic scans, and surgical missions.

The initiative is being streamlined through collaboration with Hospital Universiti Malaysia Sabah (HUMS) to utilize all available medical facilities. Furthermore, there are 53 health development projects worth RM1.56 billion under the 13th Malaysia Plan, along with RM75.5 million allocated for repairing 132 dilapidated clinics and RM1 billion for implementing electronic medical records (EMR).