PETALING JAYA: The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) is pleading with the government to loosen its reins and allow more foreign specialised nurses to enter the country to assist the private healthcare sector.
Its president, Dr Kuljit Singh, said the lack of specialised nurses, who were mostly based in government or university hospitals, has led to a restriction in the advancement of medical facilities.
“The requirement of the health ministry before we’re allowed to do any niche specialities is to have post basic nurses. That’s a requirement by law, or else you cannot run the facility.
“But we don’t have enough of these post basic nurses because most of them are in the government or university hospitals,” Kuljit told a press conference during the APHM International Healthcare Conference this morning.
Post basic nurses are nurses specialised in a specific area.
Kuljit said that as it was not the private sector’s intent to “pinch the nose” of the government by acquiring specialised nurses from the government sector, the government should ease regulations to bring these practitioners in.
“Our nurses are marketable internationally so I don’t see why we shouldn’t receive nurses from other countries,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of public-private partnership, considering the private healthcare sector not only provided services to Malaysians but also medical tourists as the regional medical hub.
Recently, Johor health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon was quoted as saying the state was facing a shortage of nurses and that it needed 15,000 to 18,000 more.
Bernama quoted Ling as saying Malaysian nurses receiving attractive offers from Singapore as well as an increase in the number of hospitals were among the factors causing a shortage of nurses in the state. - FMT
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