Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has welcomed a proposal to carry out a detailed study on recruiting nurses from Indonesia to help ease the country’s nursing shortage, particularly in Johor.
Dzulkefly said he had instructed his ministry to fully cooperate with the public services department (JPA) in conducting the study.
The proposal comes following a suggestion by Sigit S Widiyanto, Indonesia’s consul-general in Johor Bahru, to allow Indonesian nurses to work in Malaysian public hospitals.
“Whatever the outcome of the study, it must serve the people, safeguard the welfare of ministry staff, and strengthen the healthcare delivery system,” Dzulkefly said in a post on X.
Previously, Sigit had said Malaysia currently faced a shortage of healthcare workers, while Indonesia has a surplus of nurses, making the proposal mutually beneficial.
He said Indonesia had already started a collaboration with a hospital in Johor, including initiating recruitment processes, pending approval from Malaysian health authorities.
However, Dzulkefly clarified that no official requests or formal discussions have taken place yet between the two countries.
“We are aware that various parties have raised concerns. However, the fact remains that the health ministry has not received any formal requests,” he said on Saturday.
Dzulkefly said the health ministry would continue working to overcome the shortage of nurses through a “multi-pronged approach”.
“Admittedly, there are no quick fixes to overcome this arguably self-inflicted dire situation,” he said, referring to the moratorium on private nursing schools, which was lifted only in 2024.
He also highlighted the two-year halt on new intakes at the health ministry’s training institute during the pandemic as a contributing factor to the shortage of nurses.
