The Malaysian Insight

THE Health Ministry is looking into providing allowances for medical volunteers who have stepped in to assist in the fight against Covid-19, said Dr Adham Baba.

This follows complaints that these medical volunteers would not be receiving any form of remuneration. 

“The MoH welcomes the intention to give incentives in the form of allowance or subsistence to volunteers helping the ministry to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“This can be in the form of an allowance similar to that given to volunteers at vaccination centres around the country. The ministry is following up on this matter,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Adham also said volunteers were currently not given any allowance, except for those stationed at vaccination centres. 

A total of RM147 million has been allocated under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for volunteers helping out at vaccination centres. 

On May 27, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah shared that volunteers such as medical officers, dentistry officers, assistant medical officers, nurses and laboratory technicians were wanted.

However, it was stated that these volunteers would not receive any form of remuneration for their work, including transport, accommodation, food and allowance 

“All costs for the duration of volunteer service must be borne by the applicant,” the promotional literature read.

Staffing needs being met

Adham also said the ministry has taken proactive measures to meet its staffing needs as intensive care units (ICU) register record levels of Covid-19 admissions. 

“This includes hiring permanent and contract staff, volunteers and mobilisation of health workers internally or to other severely affected states,” he said. 

“The ministry is cognisant of the need for a skilled workforce especially for critical treatment,” he added. 

On that note, Adham said certain changes were made at hospitals that were seeing an exponential rise in cases and facing a manpower crunch.

“Staff who have been appointed on a contract basis or have been newly deployed to critical departments like ICU will be given rapid training to fulfil the manpower needs without compromising on the healthcare service provided.

“The rapid training will be based on the buddy system or mentor-mentee so that the staff’s training and skills (progress) can be continuously monitored,” he said.

He said staff trained to handle ICU cases have been deployed to several hospitals that required additional manpower such as the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Specialist Children Hospital, Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital and Sibu Hospital. 

He said the ministry has also readjusted the number of patients assigned to one staffer – eight instead of four, as previously done. 

He also said other agencies such as private, university and military hospitals, as well as civil society groups have also assisted in catering to the ministry’s human resources needs. 

Daily ICU numbers have been on record-breaking levels since May 6.

There were 917 ICU admissions yesterday while active cases stood at 657,508. – June 14, 2021.