Budget 2023: Putrajaya urged to address chronic shortage of healthcare staff

KUCHING: The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy has called for the formation of a multi-sectoral taskforce, recruitment of overseas health staff, and a strengthened allocation for health under Budget 2023 to address the chronic and widespread problem of an overstretched and overworked public healthcare workforce.

Its chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib said health portal CodeBlue’s findings from its survey among Malaysian healthcare workers had reconfirmed what had been described in the Auditor General’s 2018 report.

He said the findings were that the country’s healthcare professionals including nurses, doctors, specialists, medical assistants are underpaid, overworked and overstretched; working in facilities which are increasingly congested with patients; and facing extremely difficult workplace conditions.

“The people who work on the frontlines of healthcare are the country’s greatest asset and are key to delivering highquality care. They have shown remarkable resilience and commitment, yet, their concerns appear to not be taken seriously.

“Many of the recently proposed solutions to the congestion in emergency and trauma departments are seen as stop-gap measures. Most have already been tried, tested and at times failed because they depend on having sufficient staff,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Azrul said there is excessive workload, burnout amidst widespread anxiety, trauma, and mental fatigue which are causing many staff to decide to leave, causing shortages, and increasing pressure on staff, thus creating a vicious cycle.

The emergency and trauma departments, he pointed out, have been described as ‘war zones’ even before the Covid-19 crisis.

“The pandemic has exacerbated these long-term issues, weakened parts of our healthcare system and caused permanent damage. In some hospitals today, people are waiting between 24 hours and several days for a bed,” he said.

He said healthcare workers are still doing 30-hour shifts and return home physically and mentally wrecked and exhausted, especially junior doctors, housemen or medical officers.

Some of them have been involved in accidents and car crashes which resulted in loss of lives, he added.

“With more demand for care as patients pour into hospitals and clinics, healthcare professionals are being forced to choose between care for themselves and care for their patients, which is incredibly unfair. They have their own families, their own health issues, and their own worries.

“Like any normal workplace environment, heavier working hours, toxic work environments, bullying and the contract worker situation, will drive people into resigning.

“Many are experiencing burnout and there are significant numbers intending to leave or have already left. Some are leaving to work in other countries, or worse, leaving medicine altogether.”

Azrul said the government needs to convene a multi-sectoral taskforce comprising other ministries and agencies such as the Public Service Department, Ministry of Human Resource and Ministry Higher Education, to put together a national health workforce strategy and put together long-term plans to address both recruitment and staff retention.

He stressed that it is important to improve the retention of staff already working in the service.

“It is critical to listen and take the views of the women and men who are our healthcare workers seriously. The government must make the formation of this taskforce a priority for its first 100 days. This is not business as usual or ‘an old story’,” he said.

He said the government will need to consider recruitment of healthcare staff from overseas to fill the immediate needs, especially in areas of specialised care.

“The revised version of Budget 2023 will be tabled and voted on in the next couple of weeks. Any reduction in this year’s health allocation will be reflected in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases, ability to provide quality care, number of healthcare professionals leaving the service and worse, morbidity and mortality data for years to come.

“We need to maintain and strengthen our investment in health, not reduce it. We need the government to demonstrate not only compassionate leadership on this issue but also boldness and vision,” he added.