By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is losing experienced medical personnel as trained staff leave the state after completing their training, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
"The reality is that Sabah is often treated as a training ground or merely a temporary stop before personnel apply for transfers out of the state.
"This cycle of training, serving and subsequently losing experienced officers threatens the continuity of our services," he was quoted as saying in a statement after speaking at the Health Minister's Dialogue Programme at Dewan Wisma Wanita here yesterday.
Dzulkefly said only 12 medical specialists reported for duty in Sabah last year, while 57 transferred out of the state.
A similar trend was seen among pharmacy officers, with 174 reporting to Sabah while 115 applied for transfers out during the same period.
He said the latest data showed that Sabah's staffing rate stood at 88.51 per cent, leaving a shortfall of 3,557 vacancies.
At present, Sabah has 2,546 doctors, 549 specialists and 10,164 nurses serving in the state.
Dzulkefly said the government had taken decisive steps to address the issue, including establishing the Health Ministry-Public Service Department (PSD) Staffing Management Task Force in April.
This was followed by the establishment of the Health Ministry-Higher Education Ministry Joint Committee in June to comprehensively map the supply and demand for medical manpower.
He said the ministry had also completed the redevelopment and upgrading of 132 dilapidated clinics in Sabah between 2023 and 2025 under the Bitara Madani initiative, involving an allocation of RM75.5 million.
"For 2026, we are planning to implement the remaining 46 dilapidated clinics in phases," he said.
Dzulkefly said the Federal Government had allocated RM1.56 billion for 53 healthcare development projects throughout Sabah through the Malaysia Plan (RMK) and negotiations under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
The allocation comprises 32 physical projects involving the construction of hospitals and clinics, and 21 non-physical projects focused on ICT digitalisation and the procurement of modern medical equipment.
On digitalisation, Dzulkefly said the ministry was driving a comprehensive healthcare digitalisation agenda through the Cloud-Based Clinic Management System (CCMS).
"In Sabah alone, the CCMS is being expanded to 36 health clinics, while 100 per cent of the 44 primary dental clinics throughout Sabah are now fully using the Dental Information System.
"Healthcare services in Sabah are also being integrated with the National Information Dissemination Centre (Nadi) ecosystem, enabling residents in rural and island communities to access virtual consultations without having to travel long distances," he said.
Also present were National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) representative Rusli Harun, Intan Sabah Regional Campus director Siti Robani Yusof and Sabah Health director Datuk Dr William Gotulis.
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