Hospital cleaners' complaints an internal issue, says Health DG

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the issue of hospital cleaners not being provided adequate protective personal equipment (PPE) is an internal issue between the cleaners and the company that employs them.

However, he said the Health Ministry has already advised the concessionaire company to take “drastic action” to resolve this issue.

“It does not involve the Health Ministry, it involves our concessionaire, the company.

“So they (the cleaners) should be engaging with the company rather than the Health Ministry because the services are from the concessionaire.

“What they should be doing is to have an appointment with the company rather than the ministry, but the ministry is monitoring the issue and we have advised the company to take drastic action to solve the issue as soon as possible,” Noor Hisham said in the daily press conference at the Health Ministry today.

What is most important, he said, is that the cleaning services in the ministry's hospitals are not disrupted as agreed upon in their contracts with the concessionaire.

“At the end of the day, the ministry is looking at the services provided by the company. If there is a disruption then action will be taken in terms of the contractual agreement between the Health Ministry and the concessionaire company,” Noor Hisham said.

On June 2, five hospital cleaners, including the National Union of Workers in Hospital Support and Allied Services (NUWHSAS) executive secretary M Saraswathy, were arrested for protesting (above) against their employer Edgenta UEMS outside the Ipoh Hospital.

The union represents members who work as cleaners in government hospitals in the northern states.

Among their complaints were claims that hospital cleaners were denied proper protective gear when they clean Covid-19 wards and facilities, putting them at risk of infection.

Noor Hisham said the ministry's hospitals have not experienced any disruption in other services provided, adding they have optimised their resources in order to continue their other services as usual, such as moving their orthopaedic and surgery departments to nearby district hospitals.

“So services continue, especially for cancer patients and emergency services. No disruptions at all. Even our clinics for maternal and child health continue.

“We continue to advise those who have appointments to come forward and continue with their treatments in our clinic,” he said.

Hospitals have also prioritised their patients such as those with cancer and emergency cases, he said, while some staff have been redeployed to other states on a two-week attachment.

The ministry also encourages retired specialists like doctors and nurses to return to work with the ministry on a short-term basis.

He noted that some patients feared to come to hospitals due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have either cancelled or postponed their operations.

“For elective operations, this is not an issue but for emergency or semi-emergency operations, we will continue to perform the surgery in our hospitals.

“That is why we do the screening, pre-operative testing, to make sure they are free and do not infect others in the operating room and so on,” he said.

With the rainy season coming soon, Noor Hisham was also asked about the preparations for a potential spike in dengue cases.

He noted there had been a decrease of 11.7 percent in dengue cases this year as compared to the same period last year while there has been an increase of one death.

“Dengue is endemic in this country so our advice to all Malaysians is to clean our homes and community areas but because of the movement control order (MCO), at least you can clean your home and garden for example.

“Just because of Covid-19, do not forget about dengue. Dengue is always there, but we have not seen a surge in dengue cases,” he said. - Mkini