The Health Ministry is holding discussions with the Public Service Department (JPA) to absorb contract medical personnel to the permanent staff without pensions.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said in the Dewan Negara on Thursday (March 30) when responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Jefridin Atan who wanted to know whether the ministry was considering employing more contract doctors to overcome the workload of health workers, adding that the discussions were to deal with the workload that exceeded the capacity of available resources, as well as to reduce the burden of the pension scheme borne by the country at the moment, which amounted to RM29.1bil in 2021.

Meanwhile, Dr Zaliha said due to the increase in cases of non-communicable diseases (NCD) cases, the ministry was facing an increase in the number of in- and out-patients in health facilities, causing overcrowding in hospitals, adding that the ministry has implemented a pilot project led by the Special Task Force on Public Sector Reform (Star) to reduce overcrowding in hospitals.

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